On the effectiveness in implementing a waste-management-plan method in construction

The increasing awareness of waste management concerns from construction and demolition waste has led to the development of waste management as an important function of construction project management. The Hong Kong government started employing the implementation of a waste-management-plan (WMP) method for all construction projects in 2003. During the trial period, the government received different version of feedback from the industry. It also came out that detailed descriptions of waste management procedures in the WMP method largely affect the productivity of companies. This paper investigates the effectiveness of the existing implementation of the WMP method in the Hong Kong construction industry. A questionnaire survey and structured interviews were conducted. The result showed that “Propose methods for on-site reuse of materials” and “Propose methods for reducing waste” are the main benefits gained from the implementation of the WMP method. However, “Low financial incentive” and “Increase in overhead cost” are considered as the major difficulties in the implementation. From that, “Use of prefabricated building components” is considered as the major effective measure to encourage the implementation of the WMP method.