Construction Waste Reduction Awareness: Action Research

Abstract

The study focused on construction waste reduction awareness as a step within Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. The method of collaborative action research was used with a questionnaire as an instrument. Data collected from 61 participants were analyzed using descriptive statistics (percentage, mean, and t-test) and multiple regressions. Results revealed that there were graduates of different degree levels and non-graduates working at the construction sites, where 4.9 % and 27.9 % had PhD and Master degrees, respectively. Improper material storage was agreed to be the main cause of construction waste, while the most effective reduction measure was applying source reduction through the calculated procurement. Multiple regressions revealed that awareness was significantly positively predicted by gender, qualification and status. However, both cause and reduction of construction waste were noted to be human related, thereby necessitating a campaign against construction waste at various sites, with the aim of raising motivated and inspired change agents.

Constructing a Transformative Sustainability Pedagogy: Teacher Empowerment for a Sustainable Future

“…One outcome of the study was ideas about how higher education could promote implementation of the idea of teacher-researcher, and also how it was possible to propose educational action research that was grounded in the process of phronesis or a strategic approach for the development of phronetic skills important to sustainability education. Omeje et al (2020) carried out collaborative action research focused on construction waste reduction awareness as a step within Education for Sustainable Development at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. This study involved investigating the knowledge of the building construction students and site-workers.…”

Promoting Householders' Participation in Household Waste Sorting: A Case for Learning Aluminum Packaging Recycling in Spain

“…Additionally, it has been proved that there is a positive correlation between the effort made in communication and participation in recycling (Dri et al, 2018). Plus, awareness is directly affected by the education of the people and in a research conducted by Omeje et al (2020) multiple regressions revealed that it was significantly positively predicted by gender, qualification and status.…”

Preliminary survey on the root causes of mishandling materials occurrence at construction sites in central region Malaysia

“…Physical construction waste is defined as the waste generated from construction, renovation and destruction activities, including land excavation or formation, civil and building construction, site clearance, demolition activities, roadwork and building renovation [28,30]. Inert waste includes materials that are subject to reuse onsite such as concrete and masonries, stone, fragments, asphalt and soil, whereas non-inert waste comprises wood, bamboo, plants and packaging materials that may not be easily used onsite but are subject to recycling or disposal to landfills [34].…”

“…Non-skilled workers are workers or contractors who are inefficient in material handling, management and other work tasks. There are many previous researchers who agree that material handling is often caused by non-skilled labour [34,51]. Thus, if the company employs a large number of unskilled workers, there is a high tendency for materials to be wasted because of a lack of expertise and experience.…”