University of Technology of Mauritius

School of Sustainable Development and Tourism

Msc Project Management for sustainable Development

Research Proposal
Sarvesh Mehtah Ramdowar
ID : 090164

August 2010

Title Proposed: CONSTRUCTION AND DEMOLITION WASTE MANAGEMENT

1.0 Introduction

Various types of construction wastes are generated during construction and demolition activities. An increase in volume of construction wastes not only represents an enormous dissipation of resources but also results in serious environmental pollution, thus creating negative effects to the sustainable development of the industry and society at whole (Wang et al. 2008 ) . With the continual development of economy and industry, waste problems will become more serious in coming years; therefore, waste management of construction and demolition activities is becoming a pressing issue. I wish to mention that I discussed on this subject matter with Dr C.Bokhoree and he expressed his interest on this issue and is willing to his assist me if I were to go ahead with this topic. 2.0 Problem Statement About 95 % of the construction & demolition wastes are recyclable (Wang et al. 2008). However, in Mauritius, the wastes are carted away or landfilled, serving practically no purpose, except increasing load at landfills. This means that resources are being wasted, both land resources and economic resources. This practice cannot perpetuate if Mauritius wants to hail itself as a sustainable island. It is therefore envisaged to reduce wastage at conception, design and construction and maintenance stages stage of any new facility. 3.0 Aim and Objectives The aim of carrying out research on construction and demolition wastes is to achieve sustainability in the construction sector. The objectives set to achieve this goal are as follows:
1. Identifying the different types of wastes most common in this industry.

2. Finding out which factors are responsible for the generation of wastes. 3. Measuring the cost implications of wastage.
4. Re-Use & Recycling of some of the waste products. 2

5. Attitudes and Perceptions of stakeholders towards achieving sustainability.

It is expected that this research will be of benefit to clients, quantity surveyors, engineers and construction managers in designing and implementing better waste management practices.
4.0 Preliminary Literature Review

Sustainable waste management encourages the generation of less waste, and the reuse, recycling and recovery of waste. According to Formoso et al., waste is defined as any losses produced by activities that generate direct or indirect costs but do not add any value to the product from the point of view of the client and Ishiwata (1997) defines construction waste in relation to time delays, quality costs, lack of safety, rework, unnecessary transportation trips, long distances, improper choice of management, methods or equipment and poor constructability (Yahya and Boussabaine 2006). According to Kulatunga et al., (2006) the majority of the causes underlying material waste are directly or indirectly affected by the behavior of the construction workforce. 5.0 Proposed Methodology The methodology of carrying out this research will be as follows: 1. Desk Study of construction and demolition wastes in the Mauritian context. 2. Cost of materials, labour and equipment for construction & demolition. 3. Desk Study on research journals regarding construction and demolition wastes. 4. Formulating a questionnaire type survey for project managers, engineers, contractors and other stakeholders. 5. Analysing the results using data analysis software. 6.0 Timeline Compiling data from local sources 4 weeks Review and extract relevant information from Research Papers 5 weeks Preparation and testing of questionnaire 4 weeks Filling of questionnaire & interviews 4 weeks Analysis of data 3 weeks Sum up 3 weeks
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7.0 References
1. Kulatunga, U., Amaratunga, D., Haigh, R. and Rameezdeen, R., (2006) "Attitudes

and perceptions of construction workforce on construction waste in Sri Lanka", Management of Environmental Quality: An International Journal, Vol. 17 Iss: 1, pp.57 72 2. Wang, J., (2008) "An investigation of construction wastes: an empirical study in Shenzhen" Journal of Engineering, Design andTechnology Vol. 6 No. 3, 2008 pp. 227-236 3. Yahya, K. and Boussabaine, A.h., (2006) " Eco-costing of construction waste", Management of Environmental Quality: An International Journal, Vol. 17 Iss: 1, pp.6-19