Material Waste in Building Industry: Main Causes and Prevention
Publication: Journal of Construction Engineering and Management
Volume 128, Issue 4
Abstract
Material waste has been recognized as a major problem in the construction industry that has important implications both for the efficiency industry and for the environmental impact of construction projects. Moreover, waste measurement plays an important role in the management of production systems since it is an effective way to assess their performance, allowing areas of potential improvement to be pointed out. This paper describes the main results of two research studies carried out in Brazil that investigated the occurrence of material waste at 74 building sites located in different regions of that country. Some typical figures for the waste of some key construction materials are provided, and the main causes of waste in the sector are discussed. The results indicate that the waste of materials in the Brazilian building industry is fairly high and that a large variability in waste incidence is found across different projects. Most of this waste can be avoided by implementing inexpensive preventive measures, mostly related to managerial improvements.
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Construction Engineering and Management
Volume 128 • Issue 4 • August 2002
Pages: 316 - 325
Copyright
Copyright © 2002 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Nov 22, 2000
Accepted: Sep 5, 2001
Published online: Jul 15, 2002
Published in print: Aug 2002
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