An environmental management plan for construction waste management

Abstract

This study presents a proposed environmental management plan (EMP) for construction waste management (CWM). This life cycle thinking (LCT)- based EMP for CWM is set to constitute three sections. The former investigates means of waste minimization via source control strategies. The second section discusses CWM by monitoring and tracking the path of input building materials and output construction waste. The final section presents an input–output quantitative assessment of the CWM strategies undertaken. The proposed LCT-based EMP defines actions and activities for different phases and pinpoints the methods and procedures across the entire building process. Finally, it is applied to two groups of case studies showing the difference between CWM practices for green-certified and non-certified projects. The outcome shows how the proposed plan can present a novel approach integrating environmental management and best practices for CWM. This shall facilitate complying with international standards and building rating systems for achieving environmental stewardship.

Keywords

• Construction waste management
• Environmental management plan
• Life Cycle thinking
• Waste management hierarchy