Jayarathna, H S N M; Perera, B A K S; Atapattu, D and Rodrigo, N (2025) Circular economy and blockchain-integrated road map to improve construction waste management. Construction Innovation, 25(7), pp. 23-49. ISSN 1471-4175
Abstract
Purpose: The excessive waste generation in construction highlights the importance of efficient waste management (WM) practices by incorporating novel technologies and concepts. Blockchain (BC) technology outperforms traditional information systems in WM by enabling transparency, traceability and effective data sharing which are crucial for establishing a circular economy (CE) in the construction industry. Past studies have been carried out considering the integration of BC, WM and CE, yet the synergy of the simultaneous integration of these three concepts remains unaddressed. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the potential of converging BC with CE to improve WM in the construction industry. Design/methodology/approach: The study followed a qualitative approach. A qualitative Delphi expert survey was conducted in 3 rounds with 18 experts in the fields of BC, CE and construction waste management (CWM). Fifty-one semi-structured interviews were conducted, and the data were analysed using the content analysis method. Findings: Integrating BC with CE to improve WM in construction was revealed to be possible using nine integration methods. Twenty enablers and 20 barriers were revealed and the applicability of these methods, enablers and barriers were separately identified for 8 WM practices in the construction industry. Originality/value: In streamlining the link between BC and CE to improve CWM, a mind map framework was introduced to serve the industry with a detailed comprehension of how BC-enabled CE practices can be used to overcome the excessive waste generation of the construction industry.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | blockchain; circular economy; construction waste management; sustainability; waste management; questionnaire survey |
| Index terms: | interview, traceability, content analysis, survey, integration, methodology, waste management, questionnaire, information system, waste generation, qualitative approach, streamlining, circular economy, construction industry, synergy, construction waste, blockchain, transparency |
| Subjects: | professional development, management, industry analysis, information systems, partnership management, organizational analysis, computing systems, data collection methods, data analysis and analytics, supplier oversight, sustainable design, research methods, waste management, environmental impact |
| Topics: | Supply Chain Management, Sustainability, Digital Applications, Organizational Design, Information Management, Research Practice, Business Strategy, Stakeholder Management |
| Descriptive scope: | 5 PCTEA |
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