Developing a framework for assessing eco-costs of construction site activities

Abstract

Sustainable waste management encourages the generation of less waste, and the reuse, recycling and recovery of the waste that is produced. The blueprint for effective social, economic and environmental development throughout the 21st century can be envisaged through the Agenda 21 framework. Agenda 21 is a comprehensive plan of action to be taken globally, nationally and locally by United Nations organisations, and amongst other issues, focuses upon the efficient management of waste. The categorisation of waste has taken various guises to include material, time, money, labour, resource, energy etc. Some researchers (Koskela 1992, Alarcon 1993, Serpell et al. 1995 and Ishiwata 1997) defined construction waste as that that includes delay of time, quality, cost, lack of safety, rework, unnecessary logistics, improper choice of management, methods or equipment and poor constructability. Several definitions of waste have also been proposed in the literature including “any losses produced by activities that generate direct or indirect costs but do not add any value to the product from the point of view of the client” Farmoso et al. (1999). Symond (1999) defines wastes as any substance or object, which the holder intends, or requires to discard.