Use of recycled products in UK construction industry: An empirical investigation into critical impediments and strategies for improvement

Abstract

Construction industry consumes about half of all material resources taken from nature, and generates a large portion of waste to landfill. A way of tackling negative environmental impacts impending from continuous material extraction and waste generation is the use of recycled materials for construction projects. However, the use of recycled materials is yet to become a commonplace in construction industry. This study evaluates the factors hampering the use of recycled products in UK construction industry as well as strategies that could be adopted to enhance its use in the industry. In order to identify the impediments and critical strategies, a two-fold methodical approach was used. An unstructured interview preceded a quantitative questionnaire survey which was used to elicit broader industry practitioners' opinion.The study shows that designers rarely specify recycled products. This is due to lack of adequate information about quality and market availability of the products, negative perception from clients, and unexpectedly high cost of the products, despite its perceived low quality. The study suggests that a number of strategies could be adopted to promote the use of the products. These include allocation of points to the use of recycled products in sustainable design appraisal tools, governments legislative measures, improved collaboration between designers, contractors and materials supplier, contractors involvement at earlier stage of design, improved education of the professionals about the products, and the use of tax break to influence the cost of the products. The findings of this study would therefore help policy makers, manufacturers and construction professionals to identify the factors hampering the use of recycled products for construction projects as well as the strategies that could be adopted in order to create market for the products.

Optimising material procurement for construction waste minimization: An exploration of success factors

“…This is in agreement with earlier studies, which suggest that specification and subsequent use of recycled materials is indispensable to waste minimization and the overall global sustainability agenda (Oyedele et al, 2014). Based on this, there is need to procure secondary materials and support reuse of existing materials (Begum et al, 2009).…”

“…A study by the UK's Building Research Establishment (BRE, 2003) suggests that up to £130million gain could be made by reducing UK construction waste by only 5%. In order to harness this financial benefit and prevent impending environmental problems from waste generation (Oyedele et al, 2014), several research efforts have been made. This section evaluates the research streams in construction waste management.…”

“…Additionally, recycling has not been beneficial until the materials are used in further construction activities. However, existing practices suggests that there has been a slow development of recycled materials market (Oyedele et al, 2014). This is because, apart from the lack of Focus of this paper guaranteed market and conventional specifications for recycled products, designers feel that it requires additional time to source for the products (Sassi and Thompson, 2008).…”

Policy imperatives for diverting construction waste from landfill: Experts’ recommendations for UK policy expansion

“…As this means that the industry contributes the largest proportion of UK waste to landfill, similar patterns exist in other large economies . Construction activities in the US generates about 29% of landfill waste (Yu et al, 2013), while the industry landfills about 40%, 44%, 27% and 25% in Brazil, Australia, Canada and Hong Kong respectively (Lu and Tam, 2013;Oyedele et al, 2014). Albeit negative environmental impacts of waste, reducing construction waste could result in substantial financial gains.…”

Gypsum Waste Management in the European Union: Towards a Circular Economy for the Construction Sector

“…3.2). As Oyedele et al (2014) found, one of the impediments to the use of recycled materials in the construction sector is that "Materials selection and specification are influenced by cost rather than environmental benefits". Indeed, the integration between economic, social and environmental aspects is needed (Yuan et al, 2011).…”