Construction waste index for bungalow projects in Malaysia

Abstract

In Malaysia, the 3R approach is still in the stage of infant and ineffective, as not all the initiatives are implemented by the construction stakeholders and some of them are unaware of it. The increasing allocation of landfills has proved that an increasing amount of unmanaged waste generated, and the allocation of funding and skills for waste management has been insufficient due to lack of attention. Malaysia is one of countries which have not familiar with the quantification for construction waste index since the information and data for construction waste quantification in Malaysia is still considered as restricted. The aim of the study is to develop a construction waste index for bungalow construction project as a construction waste management to be practiced on site for a better management of construction site. The objectives of the study are to identify the level of application of 3R concept practiced in bungalow construction project, to identify the concept of construction waste quantification and its current practice, to analyse the amount of construction waste generated in bungalow construction project, and to develop the index for construction waste for bungalow construction project. This research focuses on four bungalow construction project sites where are located in Malaysia, the level of application of 3R approach, the concept of construction waste quantification and its method as well as the types, in order to develop a construction waste index. The study is to develop a waste index as one of the waste management method as well as promotes better waste management in terms of the 3R concept as well as construction wastage storage allocation on construction site. The study includes elaboration on the sustainability and sustainable development, the sustainability in construction industry, the construction waste overview, the definition of waste, the type of waste, the construction waste management and approaches, the quantification and estimation of construction waste, the construction waste index, and the calculation of construction waste index. Literature review, case study and content analysis are used as the methodology of research. The study finds that all four bungalow project sites, did apply the concept of reduce, reuse and recycle, and none of all four sites did apply the construction waste quantification concept. The construction waste index for bungalow project is calculated and developed as 18.62 kg/m². This index can be used by contractor on construction site, with the aim to estimate the total wastage to be generated, minimize the order of construction material, as well as to prepare a proper and sufficient waste storage size on site, as well as helps with the wastage management for recyclable products. This study focusses on the construction wastage in four site of bungalow construction projects and does not cover other types of buildings and other types of industry, and the bungalow included in the research is limited to one to three storeys building only.