Circular economy in the construction industry: An overview of United States stakeholders’ awareness, major challenges, and enablers

Guerra, Beatriz C.; Leite, Fernanda

doi:10.1016/j.resconrec.2021.105617

Cited by 126 publications

(77 citation statements)

References 49 publications

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“…Since the literature indicates that the level of awareness of CE increased with the respondents' level of education, the present study explored and found a statistically significant difference (X 2 = 42.655, p-value = 0.001) in CE awareness according to respondents' highest educational level (Figure 2). Respondents with college/university education (65.5%) have a significantly greater understanding of CE compared with those with secondary/intermediate school education (39.7%) and those with primary education or less (19.4%), which are in line with the previous literature [9]. In a study of five major towns and 69 villages in southern Jordan, awareness about environmental issues such as air and noise pollution, water efficiency, solid waste management, and desertification increases with increasing education, and higher among female than male survey respondents [45].…”

Section: Public Awareness and Perception Of Cesupporting

confidence: 89%

“…It is a worldwide strategy where the conventional linear economic framework is shifted to a closed-loop framework by considering the connection between materials use and waste residuals [7,8]. The growing awareness among policymakers and the public regarding resource shortages and environmental sustainability is a major driving force propelling the CE transition worldwide [9][10][11].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Understanding Public Environmental Awareness and Attitudes toward Circular Economy Transition in Saudi Arabia

Almulhim

Abubakar

2021

Sustainability

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Circular economy (CE) has been globally acknowledged as a national sustainable development (SD) strategy to confront resource shortages and environmental contamination challenges. Although public behaviors and lifestyles play an essential role in achieving sustainability, in developing countries, few studies explored the role of public awareness, attitudes, and lifestyles on CE transition. Thus, it is necessary to elicit public opinion to understand their awareness and attitude regarding CE strategy to determine obstacles to CE implementation and approaches of overcoming them. This study thus focuses on understanding public awareness and attitudes to CE transition in Saudi Arabia. Data were collected through a questionnaire survey distributed to 402 residents of the Dammam Metropolitan Area. The results indicated that the respondents had little understanding of the CE concept due to limited awareness of the topic. However, they held an optimistic attitude towards trash separation and classified their trash as “can be sold”, “reused”, and “exchanged for a new one”. Furthermore, the respondents’ level of awareness regarding the CE transition is positively related to their level of education. In contrast, the inclination towards resource conservation and pro-environmental behavior positively correlates to the age demographic. This paper thus contributes to the empirical literature on CE transition by exploring the public awareness and attitudes towards its implementation in Saudi Arabia.

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Section: Public Awareness and Perception Of Cesupporting

confidence: 89%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Understanding Public Environmental Awareness and Attitudes toward Circular Economy Transition in Saudi Arabia

Almulhim

Abubakar

2021

Sustainability

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“…Guidelines were recognized to be very effective in building confidence among the different stakeholders. Raising awareness and evaluating potential practices and actions that could be done to promote the recyclability of IM (and a CE in the C&D sector in general) is essential for actors to recognize, change, or adopt new methods and ways of doing [52,53]. Second, the improvement of the recycling process and technology, as could be considered by the PolyStyreneLoop project [13,54], earned a highly effective and feasible score.…”

Section: Interventions For Im Recyclingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The identification of the barriers and enablers for a CE in the C&D sector has received considerable attention in the recent scientific literature [46,52,67,68]. The contribution of the present study lies in focusing on a type of construction material (i.e., IMs), about which specialized literature on the CE is scarce.…”

Section: Contributions and Limitationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Recycling Thermal Insulation Materials: A Case Study on More Circular Management of Expanded Polystyrene and Stonewool in Switzerland and Research Agenda

2021

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The limits to linear models of production based on material extraction, manufacture, use, and disposal are becoming increasingly apparent across the global economy. The Circular Economy (CE) describes an alternative to this problematic “take-make-waste” linear model that is concerned with resource efficiency and waste minimization. The construction and demolition sector represents an important focus for a CE transition due to its significant environmental impact. The use of thermal insulation to reduce energy demand associated with heating and cooling in buildings is vital for reducing the sector’s high environmental impact; however, there are significant challenges to recycling thermal insulation materials (IM). This study examines these challenges in the context of Switzerland and evaluates the potential for more circular management of expanded polystyrene and stonewool IM. The research provides an original analysis of the Swiss IM value chain in the context of the CE agenda based on a literature review, semi-structured interviews, and a workshop. Research gaps are highlighted based on scientific literature. The roles and agency of actors involved in the Swiss IM value chain are examined. Enablers of and barriers to wider IM recycling as reported by workshop participants are outlined. Interventions for tackling the current challenges faced for the recycling of thermal IM are suggested. Finally, an agenda for future research is proposed. Throughout the discussion, the importance of the involvement, commitment, and collaboration of stakeholders across the entire IM value chain for an effective and expedient transition to a CE is highlighted.

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“…Specifically, a plethora of different terms, such as "by-product", "surplus", "excess", "wastage", "difference", "substance", "unwanted material", "loss", and "inefficiency", have been used to describe CDW materials over the years [21][22][23][24][25]. The variation in definitions may lead to vague classifications for the same types of CDW materials, eventually inducing disparities in waste analytics [2,19,[26][27][28]. This problem is of great importance as recyclable CDW materials may improperly end up in landfills, damaging the environment, thus supporting the linear economy [20].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Conceptualising the Circular Economy Potential of Construction and Demolition Waste: An Integrative Literature Review

et al. 2021

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Traditionally, construction and demolition waste (CDW) materials have been considered to be unwanted, surplus, or wastage materials or materials with zero value. Such a conceptualisation only embraces a negative aspect, which underpins the disposal of reusable and recyclable CDW materials in landfills, thus damaging the circular economy and the environment. The scope of this research was to conceptualise the circular economy potential of non-hazardous construction and demolition waste, which can be used as a resource for advancing the circular economy and sustainability in the built environment. Thus, the abbreviation ‘CEPCDR’ is used for this purpose. The study employs an integrative literature review to understand in depth whether the rationale in the existing CDW definitions advocates for the circular economy. Instead, the literature showed that the current definitions mainly support quantitative, economic, or classification needs, respectively. That is because they lack consideration of the dynamic nature of CDW materials, which embraces the spatial and temporal dimensions. The former involves the geographic context in which the CDW phenomenon eventuates, while the latter concerns the lifecycle of materials. This study contributes to the body of knowledge by conceptualising the CEPCDR using a holistic approach that includes five dimensions: the social, economic, environmental, spatial, and temporal perspectives. Furthermore, the study seeks to drive future research in measuring the CEPCDR.

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Circular economy in the construction industry: An overview of United States stakeholders’ awareness, major challenges, and enablers

Cited by 126 publications

References 49 publications

Understanding Public Environmental Awareness and Attitudes toward Circular Economy Transition in Saudi Arabia

Understanding Public Environmental Awareness and Attitudes toward Circular Economy Transition in Saudi Arabia

Recycling Thermal Insulation Materials: A Case Study on More Circular Management of Expanded Polystyrene and Stonewool in Switzerland and Research Agenda

Conceptualising the Circular Economy Potential of Construction and Demolition Waste: An Integrative Literature Review

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