ABSTRACT
Worldwide, the building industry consumes and generates a significant amount of building materials and construction waste. The annual production of building materials and components consumes about 3 billion tonnes of raw materials, which represents about 40 to 50 per cent of the total flow in the global economy (Roodman and Lenssen, 1995; Anink et al, 1996). In the US, 40 per cent of raw materials are used in buildings (USGBC, 2003), and annual construction waste generation accounts for about 136 million tonnes per year, of which 50 per cent is incinerated or disposed of at landfills (Franklin, 1998). The management of construction waste is a key environmental issue as land available for its disposal is scarce in many countries such as Hong Kong. Waste minimization is therefore a priority for the construction industry to tackle the problem at source. A recent study (Innes, 2004) demonstrated that about 30 per cent of construction waste might be directly influenced by design concepts and decisions. Waste reduction at source involves both design concepts and building technology/materials selection (Poon and Jaillon, 2002a). With the introduction of recent legislation in Hong Kong enforcing the polluter pays principle, both architects and contractors are required to pay more attention towards waste minimization practices.
