An assessment of construction waste management in India: A statistical approach

Abstract

Construction waste needs to be managed in order to minimize environmental burden in India and conserve existing natural resources. Despite numerous policies and guidelines there is improper construction waste management. Towards addressing this issue, a novel approach is presented to unraval and investigate waste management in India using four methods: quantification of waste by wastivity; grouping of influence factors (IFs) by factor analysis; ranking of IFs by analogous importance index; and determination of attitude by concordance among construction crew. The outcomes forecast wastivity of concrete (4.14%) and steel (1.62%), respectively. Exploratory factor analysis groups factors into five categories. The top influence factor (CMT6, 0.901) according to contractors and academicians is: workers should be given training in identifying recyclable material. Engineers favor enforcement of strict punishment for illegal disposal of wastes in violation of Environmental Protection Agency regulations (CMT7, 0.895). Computed concordance indicates: moderate agreement (0.68) among variables under the construction method; strong agreement among variables in documentation (0.76) and construction equipment (0.81); and very strong agreement among variables in worker intention (1.00) and materials (1.00). The variation in attitude of the workforce towards waste management and the proclivity of policy developers towards protocols which include training of workers in efficient waste management are quantified.