Environmental indicators proposal for construction solid waste management plans assessment

Abstract

PurposeThe civil construction industry has vital importance to Brazil's economy. However, this sector is also responsible for the environmental impacts. Governments have been taking measures aiming to mitigate these impacts. Among these, the elaboration and implementation of civil construction solid waste management plans can be highlighted. However, these plans still lack standardizations and tools for their evaluation. Environmental indicators proposal for construction solid waste management plans assessment is presented to verify the adhesion of these to environmental laws, technical standards and green building certification systems recommendations.Design/methodology/approachThe construction solid waste management plans of three construction works were evaluated by the proposed indicators to verify the procedures related, generating, in the end, a scale between 0 and 5. After that, plans were compared with each other.FindingsThe proposed indicators have made possible the evaluation of the environmental practices performed for three different construction works. By the proposed indicators, the environmental practices were compared to technical standards and legislation suggested procedures.Practical implicationsAs a contribution, the evaluation proposal presented may help the construction industry as well as the public authority to evaluate the construction solid waste management plans currently elaborated, so that these can offer a quality improvement and more effective environmental measures.Originality/valueMethodologies that guide the evaluation of construction solid waste management plans can be beneficial for the construction companies, which can improve the quality of the plans elaborated internally and verify the effectiveness of the plans elaborated by specialized consultancies. In general, most of the construction solid waste management plans are prepared with the purpose of only complying with the legislation, more specifically of the National Council for the Environment, Resolution 307/2002.