Reducing waste to landfill: A need for cultural change in the UK construction industry

© 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Owing to its contribution of largest portion of landfill wastes and consumption of about half of mineral resources excavated from nature, construction industry has been pressed to improve its sustainability. Despite an adoption of several waste management strategies, and introduction of various legislative measures, reducing waste generated by the industry remains challenging. In order to understand cultural factors contributing to waste intensiveness of the industry, as well as those preventing effectiveness of existing waste management strategies, this study examines cultural profile of construction industry. Drawing on four focus group discussions with industry experts, the study employs phenomenological approach to explore waste inducing cultural factors. Combining findings from phenomenological research with extant literatures, the study suggests that in order to reduce waste intensiveness of the construction industry, five waste inducing cultural factors need to be changed. These include (i) "make-do" understanding that usually result in "make-do waste" (ii) non-collaborative culture, which results in reworks and other forms of wasteful activities (iii) blame culture, which encourages shifting of waste preventive responsibilities between designers and contractors, (iv) culture of waste behaviour, which encourages belief in waste inevitability, and (v) conservatism, which hinders diffusion of innovation across the industry. Changing these sets of cultural and behavioural activities is not only important for engendering waste management practices; they are requisite for effectiveness of existing strategies. Improvement in the identified areas is also required for overall improvement and general resource efficiency of the construction industry. Thus, this paper advocates cultural shift as a means of reducing waste landfilled by the construction industry, thereby enhancing sustainability and profitability of the industry

Use of recycled products in UK construction industry: An empirical investigation into critical impediments and strategies for improvement

© 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.Construction industry consumes about half of all material resources taken from nature, and generates a large portion of waste to landfill. A way of tackling negative environmental impacts impending from continuous material extraction and waste generation is the use of recycled materials for construction projects. However, the use of recycled materials is yet to become a commonplace in construction industry. This study evaluates the factors hampering the use of recycled products in UK construction industry as well as strategies that could be adopted to enhance its use in the industry. In order to identify the impediments and critical strategies, a two-fold methodical approach was used. An unstructured interview preceded a quantitative questionnaire survey which was used to elicit broader industry practitioners' opinion. The study shows that designers rarely specify recycled products. This is due to lack of adequate information about quality and market availability of the products, negative perception from clients, and unexpectedly high cost of the products, despite its perceived low quality. The study suggests that a number of strategies could be adopted to promote the use of the products. These include allocation of points to the use of recycled products in sustainable design appraisal tools, governments legislative measures, improved collaboration between designers, contractors and materials suppliers, contractors involvement at earlier stage of design, improved education of the professionals about the products, and the use of tax break to influence the cost of the products. The findings of this study would therefore help policy makers, manufacturers and construction professionals to identify the factors hampering the use of recycled products for construction projects as well as the strategies that could be adopted in order to create market for the products

Reducing the environmental impact of surgery on a global scale: systematic review and co-prioritization with healthcare workers in 132 countries

Abstract Background Healthcare cannot achieve net-zero carbon without addressing operating theatres. The aim of this study was to prioritize feasible interventions to reduce the environmental impact of operating theatres. Methods This study adopted a four-phase Delphi consensus co-prioritization methodology. In phase 1, a systematic review of published interventions and global consultation of perioperative healthcare professionals were used to longlist interventions. In phase 2, iterative thematic analysis consolidated comparable interventions into a shortlist. In phase 3, the shortlist was co-prioritized based on patient and clinician views on acceptability, feasibility, and safety. In phase 4, ranked lists of interventions were presented by their relevance to high-income countries and low–middle-income countries. Results In phase 1, 43 interventions were identified, which had low uptake in practice according to 3042 professionals globally. In phase 2, a shortlist of 15 intervention domains was generated. In phase 3, interventions were deemed acceptable for more than 90 per cent of patients except for reducing general anaesthesia (84 per cent) and re-sterilization of ‘single-use’ consumables (86 per cent). In phase 4, the top three shortlisted interventions for high-income countries were: introducing recycling; reducing use of anaesthetic gases; and appropriate clinical waste processing. In phase 4, the top three shortlisted interventions for low–middle-income countries were: introducing reusable surgical devices; reducing use of consumables; and reducing the use of general anaesthesia. Conclusion This is a step toward environmentally sustainable operating environments with actionable interventions applicable to both high– and low–middle–income countries

Attributes of design and design documents for construction waste minimization

Despite the consensus that waste efficient design is important for reducing waste generated by construction and demolition activities, design strategies for actual waste mitigation remain unclear. In addition, decisive roles required of designers in designing out waste remains inadequately addressed. As such, this study aims to map out attributes of waste effective design and design documents. Drawing on series of semi-structured focus group discussions with experts from the UK leading design and construction companies, this paper employs qualitative approach to explore design and design document qualities for waste efficient construction projects. The study suggests that for a design to assist in reducing construction and demolition waste, it needs to fulfil five key requisites, while its documentation is expected to fulfil four key requisites. A waste efficient design would incorporate standardization and dimensional coordination, employ principles in modern methods of construction, provides measures for spatial and components flexibility, make provisions for end of life deconstruction and employs techniques in BIM for design coordination. Waste efficient design documentation, on the other hand, is characterised by completeness and clarity, certainty and timeliness, freedom from error, and incorporation of set of plans and schedules that are waste militating. A validation of these findings in a case study of waste-to-energy project confirmed that the strategies are essential to preventing construction waste. Measures through which design and design documents could achieve the identified waste effective attributes are highlighted and discussed. Findings of this study could assist in understanding a set of measures that should be taken at project planning and design stages in order to mitigate waste intensiveness of the construction industry. It would as well assist designers in understanding a set of attributes that must be possessed by design and design documents in order to design out construction waste

Design for Deconstruction (DfD): Critical success factors for diverting end-of-life waste from landfills

© 2016 Elsevier Ltd The aim of this paper is to identify Critical Success Factors (CSF) needed for effective material recovery through Design for Deconstruction (DfD). The research approach employed in this paper is based on a sequential exploratory mixed method strategy. After a thorough review of literature and conducting four Focus Group Discussion (FGDs), 43 DfD factors were identified and put together in a questionnaire survey. Data analyses include Cronbach's alpha reliability analysis, mean testing using significance index, and exploratory factor analysis. The result of the factor analysis reveals that an underlying factor structure of five DfD factors groups that include ‘stringent legislation and policy’, ‘deconstruction design process and competencies’, ‘design for material recovery’, ‘design for material reuse’, and ‘design for building flexibility’. These groups of DfD factor groups show that the requirements for DfD goes beyond technical competencies and that non-technical factors such as stringent legislation and policy and design process and competency for deconstruction are key in designing deconstructable buildings. Paying attention to the factors identified in all of these categories will help to tackle impediments that could hinder the effectiveness of DfD. The results of this study would help design and project managers to understand areas of possible improvement in employing DfD as a strategy for diverting waste from landfills