Best practices for diverting demolition waste from landfill: A systematic literature review

The construction and demolition (C&D) waste contributes to the global solid waste production with a major portion destined at landfills. To improve the use of natural resources while reducing the adverse environmental impacts of using a large number of land resources for waste landfilling, the C&D waste should be diverted from landfill. The development of effective processes to reuse and recycle is important to reduce landfilled C&D waste. Thus, changing the traditional linear supply chain into a circular arrangement is a value-adding mechanism and herein, the notion of 'Reverse Logistics Supply Chain (RLSC)' has captured the attention of the construction industry. This study aims to identify the best practices which encourage the diversion of C&D waste from landfill to promote RLSC in the construction industry. A systematic literature review (SLR) was conducted using 81 articles published in 6 databases during the period from 2000 to 2018 which were subjected to descriptive and thematic analysis. The findings revealed the best practices for diverting C&D waste from landfills in the construction industry. These practices should initiate from the design phase of the project delivery process until the last phase of RLSC in construction. Furthermore, the impediments to best practices and the corresponding corrective measures were also identified. The study developed a conceptual framework by integrating the research findings. Future researchers have the opportunity to examine the validity and reliability of this framework through empirical research. Several avenues of further research which needs to congeal the landfill diversion through RLSC in the construction industry were also identified. The value of the study is to provide the industry practitioners with the best practices to reduce the amount of waste reaching the landfill. Furthermore, the study acknowledges the practitioners the solutions for impediments which challenge the execution of best practices in the real context.