The Implications and Barriers Preventing Effective Waste Management in The UK Construction Industry

Abstract

The construction industry in every country plays an important role in the development of such a country economically and socially. In the UK, 400million tonnes of materials are used for construction purposes. Of these 400million tonnes of materials, 100millions tonnes of waste is produced and 25million tonnes are deposited in landfills, contributing to about 45% of CO2 emissions which then causes the environment to be harmful. Therefore, it is necessary to uncover the barriers affecting the effectiveness of construction waste management in the UK construction industry which is the aim of this research. To achieve this, this research will adopt the use of the mixed method to research to gather findings. Quantitatively, the use of a well-structured questionnaire was adopted and qualitatively, an interview survey was adopted. Both were administered to construction professionals in the west-midlands region of the UK construction industry with above 5 years of experience with knowledge of waste management. From the findings, it was evident that construction contractors in the UK are not rightly supplied with the right information about waste management, but this information is readily available. Therefore, it is necessary for the main body of construction industry professionals to sensitise contractors about how important waste management is as it assists in improving a company’s turnover and preserving the environment. On the micro level, a proper and proactive approach to planning should be adopted by construction contractors as poor planning may lead to poor and incompetent managers which leads to poor workm