Construction waste generation estimates of institutional building projects: Leveraging waste hauling tickets

The large proportions of waste generated from the construction industry have led to adverse environmental and socio-economic impacts, and as such, there is a need to promote construction waste management (CWM) practices. However, there is limited information regarding construction waste (CW) generated from nonresidential buildings available to support such CWM practices. This study seeks to quantify CW generated from a nonresidential institutional building project using CW data collected from 535 waste hauling tickets. These tickets provide a waste generation summary itemized by various CW streams. The CW data was collected through coordination with the project waste management team. Findings reveal that concrete/masonry is the highest waste stream during the Foundation (46% of CW) and Structural Concrete (88% of CW) stages. During the Masonry Work and Finishing Stage, wood is found to be the primary contributor (54% of CW), followed by concrete/masonry (35.3% of CW). The estimated CW generation rate was approximately 69 kg/m², with the concrete/masonry and wood waste streams having the highest generation rates of 33.61 kg/m² and 28.21 kg/m², respectively, comprising 90% of the total CW across the project. Due to the temporal characteristics of different waste streams, varying CW dumpsters available onsite is recommended based on the construction stage, to mitigate space shortage impacts. Furthermore, this study quantifies the benefits of recycling CW as environmental savings of trees, water, energy and greenhouse gas emissions. Findings of this study would help refine the accuracy of the reported estimates of CW generation for nonresidential construction projects. By shedding light on the corresponding handling practices of the generated waste and project management processes applied on institutional projects, the study can also serve as a guide to better plan for and coordinate the management of CW of these projects. Results may be used to promote and encourage the adoption of CWM practices at the site level to improve the sustainability performance of the construction industry.