Skip to main content

An overview of construction and demolition waste management in Canada: a lifecycle analysis approach to sustainability

Clean Technologies and Environmental Policy volume 15, pages 81–91 (2013)Cite this article

Abstract

The construction and demolition (C&D) waste generated by the Canadian construction industry accounts for 27 % of the total municipal solid waste disposed in landfills. However, it is evident that over 75 % of what the construction industry generates as waste has a residual value, and therefore could be recycled, salvaged and/or reused. The need for comprehensive and integrated waste management mechanisms, technologies, rating systems and policies is widely recognized. Owing to increasing C&D waste volumes, shortage of landfills and long-term adverse environmental, economic and social impacts of the disposed C&D waste, sustainable C&D waste management is becoming increasingly essential to protect public health and natural ecosystems. This paper proposes a conceptual C&D waste management framework to maximise the 3R (reduce, reuse and recycle) and minimise the disposal of construction waste by implementing sustainable and comprehensive strategy throughout the lifecycle of construction projects. In addition, a life cycle based C&D waste sustainability index is developed. This approach can be used to make decisions related to selection of material, sorting, recycle/reuse and treatment or disposal options for C&D waste.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution.

Access options

Buy single article

Instant access to the full article PDF.

USD 39.95

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3

References

  • Abbas A, Fathifazl G, Isgor OB, Razaqpur AG, Fournier B, Foo S (2006) Environmental benefits of green concrete. In: EIC Climate Change Technology, 2006 IEEE, pp 1–8

  • Albulescu CT (2010) Forecasting the Romanian financial system stability using a stochastic simulation model. Romanian J Econ Forecast 13(1):81–98

    Google Scholar 

  • BC Government (2011) Office of the premier. http://www2.news.gov.bc.ca/news_releases_2005-2009/2009OTP0050-000394.htm. Accessed 26 Nov 2011

  • Bossink BAG, Brouwers HJH (1996) Construction waste: quantification and source evaluation. J Constr Eng Manag 122:55–60

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brydon L (2011) The role of waste management in LEED Canada: Canada Green Building Council. http://www.owma.org. Accessed 25 June 2011

  • CCA (Canadian Construction Association) (1992) Waste management for the construction industry. http://www.nrtee-trnee.com/eng/publications/waste-management-construction/waste-management-construction.pdf. Accessed 24 Nov 2011

  • Chung SS, Lo CWH (2003) Evaluating sustainability in waste management: the case of construction and demolition, chemical and clinical wastes in Hong Kong. Resour Conserv Recycl 37:119–145

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cochran K, Townsend T, Reinhart D, Heck H (2007) Estimation of regional building related C&D debris generation and composition: case study for Florida. Waste Manage (Oxford) 27:921–931

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Committee BIM (2007) The National BIM Standard. http://www.buildingsmartalliance.org/nbims/about.php. Retrieved 5 Oct 2009

  • CIC (Canada Infrastructure Conference) (2009) Daily commercial news and construction record. http://dcnonl.com/article/id30927. Retrieved 8 Oct 2009

  • Dolan PJ, Richard GL, Jacqueline CD (1999) Concepts for reuse and recycling of construction and demolition waste. US Army Corps of Engineers, Construction Engineering Research Laboratories, SACERL Technical Report 97/58

  • Ekanayake LL, Ofori G (2000) Construction material waste source evaluation. In: Proceedings of 2nd Southern African conference on sustainable development the built environment: strategies for a sustainable built environment, Pretoria, South Africa, 23–25 August 2000, pp 35, 35-1–35-6

  • Ekanayake LL, Ofori G (2004) Building waste assessment score: design-based tool. Build Environ 39(7):851–861

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Faniran OO, Caban G (1993) Minimizing waste on construction project sites. Eng Constr Archit Manag 5(2):182–188

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Freudenberg M (2003) Composite indicators of country performance: a critical assessment. OECD Science, Technology and Industry Working Papers, 2003/16. Paris, OECD

  • Gavilan RM, Bernold LE (1994) Source evaluation of solid waste in building construction. J Constr Eng Manag 120(3):536–555

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • GBCA (2009) http://www.gbca.org.au/green-star/green-star-overview/. Retrieved 15 Oct 2009

  • Goedert JD, Meadati P (2008) Integrating construction process documentation into building information modeling. J Constr Eng Manag 134(7):509–516

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hendriks CF, Pietersen HS (2000) Sustainable raw materials: construction and demolition waste. RILEM Publication

  • Hermans E, Van den Bosscheb F, Wets G (2008) Combining road safety information in a performance index. Accid Anal Prev 40:1337–1344

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hewage KN, Ruwanpura JY (2007) A novel solution for construction on-site communication—the information booth. Can J Civ Eng 36:659–671

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Khan FI, Sadiq R, Veitch B (2004) Lifecycle IndeX (LInX): a new indexing procedure for process and product design and decision-making. J Clean Prod 12(1):59–76

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Klir GJ, Yuan B (1995) Fuzzy sets and fuzzy logic: theory and applications. Prentice-Hall International, Upper Saddle River

    Google Scholar 

  • LEED (2009) Understanding Green Building Program Options for Schools CHPS® Criteria & LEED®. http://www.neep.org/HPSE/CHPS%20LEED%20Comparison.pdf. Retrieved 16 Aug 2009

  • Marchettini N, Ridolfi R, Rustici M (2007) An environmental analysis for comparing waste management options and strategies. Waste Manage (Oxford) 27:562–571

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Morris MD (1979) Measuring the condition of the world’s poor: the physical quality of life index. Pergamon Policy Studies, vol 42. Pergamon Press, NewYork, pp 20–56

  • Nardo M, Saisana M, Saltelli A, Tarantola S (2005) Tools for composite indicators building, EUR 21682 EN, European Commission, JRC-IPSC, Italy

  • Nehdi M, Sumner J (2003) Recycling waste latex paint in concrete. Cem Concr Res 33(6):857–863

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Osmani M, Glass J, Price ADF (2008) Architects’ perspectives on construction waste reduction by design. Waste Manage (Oxford) 28(7):1147–1158

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Poon CS (2007) Editorial—reducing construction waste. Waste Manage (Oxford) 27:1715–1716

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • PWGSC (Public Works and Government Services Canada) (2011) Construction, renovation and demolition waste: the environmentally responsible construction and renovation handbook (Chapter 8). http://www.tpsgc-pwgsc.gc.ca/biens-property/gd-env-cnstrctn/page-8-eng.html. Accessed 25 June 2011

  • Reza B, Sadiq R, Hewage K (2011) Sustainability assessment of flooring systems in the city of Tehran: an AHP-based lifecycle analysis. Constr Build Mater 25(4):2053–2066

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sadiq R, Tesfamariam S (2008) Developing environmental indices using fuzzy numbers ordered weighted averaging (FN-OWA) operators. Stoch Env Res Risk Assess 22(5):495–505

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Saltelli A (2006) Composite indicators between analysis and advocacy. Soc Indic Res 81:65–77

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Slater E, Alam MS (2011) Sustainable green concrete made with FRP scrap and recycled concrete aggregate. Part 1: fresh properties, submitted. ASCE J Mater Civ Eng, manuscript no. JRNMTENG-S-11-00612

  • Smith D (2006) Innovation “reality” style. Alberta Construction Magazine, May/June, 53–55

  • Somlikova R, Wachowiak MP (2001) Aggregation operators for selection problems. Fuzzy Sets Syst 131:23–34

    Google Scholar 

  • Spies S (2009) 3R in Construction and Demolition Waste (CDW)—potentials and constraints. GTZ—German Technical Cooperation, Inaugural Meeting of the Regional 3R Forum in Asia, Tokyo, Japan. www.uncrd.or.jp/env/spc/. Accessed 24 Nov 2011

  • Statistics Canada (2000) Waste Management Industry Survey 2000-Business and Government Sectors Survey Guide, Environment Accounts and Statistics Division, Canada

  • USEPA (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency) (1995) Construction and demolition waste landfills. Prepared by ECF Incorporated, Contract No. 68-W3-0008, February. http://www.epa.gov/epaoswer/hazwaste/sqg/const/cdrpt.pdf. Accessed 24 Nov 2011

  • Vleck RE (2001) Advanced construction and demolition waste management for Florida builders, Masters Thesis, ME Rinker School of Building Construction, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, USA

  • Wolf COH (2009) The performance and value creation of NOCs: an analytical framework. Background Paper for the Study on National Oil Companies and Value Criterion, World Bank, Washington, DC

Download references

Acknowledgments

Authors thankfully acknowledge the financial support of Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) of Canada through ENGAGE and DG programs of second and the last authors.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Engineering, Okanagan Campus, The University of British Columbia, 1137 Alumni Avenue, Kelowna, BC, V1V 1V7, Canada

    Muluken Yeheyis, Kasun Hewage, M. Shahria Alam, Cigdem Eskicioglu & Rehan Sadiq

Authors
  1. Muluken Yeheyis
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Kasun Hewage
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. M. Shahria Alam
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Cigdem Eskicioglu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Rehan Sadiq
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Rehan Sadiq.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Yeheyis, M., Hewage, K., Alam, M.S. et al. An overview of construction and demolition waste management in Canada: a lifecycle analysis approach to sustainability. Clean Techn Environ Policy 15, 81–91 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10098-012-0481-6

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10098-012-0481-6

Keywords

  • Construction and demolition waste
  • Waste management
  • Sustainability
  • Lifecycle analysis (LCA)