Tam, V W Y and Hao, J J L (2014) Prefabrication as a mean of minimizing construction waste on site. International Journal of Construction Management, 14(2), pp. 113-121. ISSN 1562-3599
Abstract
Construction waste has become a major source of solid waste in Hong Kong. Thousands of tons of solid waste is produced every year from construction and demolition activities. Increasing generation of this waste has caused significant impacts on the environment and aroused public concerns. Therefore, minimization of construction waste has become a pressing issue. This paper aims to (i) reveal the status of construction waste, (ii) investigate the effectiveness of prefabrication in terms of waste reduction in replacing the traditional on-site production, (iii) examine the factors that help minimizing construction waste by the adopting prefabrication and (iv) explore the areas of waste reduction after adoption of prefabrication in comparison to traditional on-site production. The findings of a structured survey show that waste from poor workmanship can be greatly reduced by adopting prefabrication in construction. Furthermore, after the adoption of prefabrication, waste generation can be greatly reduced in various on-site production activities, including plastering, timber formwork, concreting and reinforcement, with 100% waste reduction seen in plastering. Case studies are also used to demonstrate the effectiveness in the use of prefabrication to minimize construction waste in Hong Kong. It can be concluded that using prefabrication of building components is one of the most effective technologies of waste minimization.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | Hong Kong; prefabrication; waste management; waste minimization |
| Index terms: | prefabrication, waste management, building component, construction waste, formwork, minimization, concreting, workmanship, construction and demolition, waste generation, case study, reinforcement, Hong Kong, survey, waste reduction, effectiveness |
| Subjects: | environmental impact, architectural elements, sustainability assessment, Geography, performance management, contractual condition, building construction, data collection methods, algorithms, building materials, waste management |
| Topics: | Sustainability, Design Practice, Geographical Context, Construction Technology, Research Practice, Digital Applications, Contract Administration, Construction Materials, Engineering Principles, Quality Management |
| Descriptive scope: | 3 PCE |
N.B. Descriptive scope is a count of how many of the five facets of empirical research are indicated by the words used in title, abstract and keywords. It is not intended as a judgement on the research; merely a count of the kind of word we would expect to indicate Phenomenon, Concepts, Theoretical framing, Empirical techniques, Analytical techniques. If all five are present, then a code of “5 PCTEA” will indicate this. If you feel the coding for this record is questionable, we welcome discussion around the terms we matched or the way we categorized them. The facet you would expect may not be coded, or a facet may be coded inappropriately. This can also bear on a larger question, of which facets should be treated as defining in construction management research. Please get in touch, and we will look at it. More details here