AN APPRAISAL OF WASTE MINIMIZATION ON BUILDING CONSTRUCTION SITE

CHAPTER ONE

1.0                                         INTRODUCTION

Construction material waste can be defined as “any material, apart from earth materials, which need to be transported elsewhere from the construction site or used within the construction site itself for the purpose of land filling, incineration, recycling, reusing or composting, other than the intended specific purpose of the project due to material damage, excess, non-use, or noncompliance with specification or being a by-product of the construction process.” (Ekanayake and Ofori, (2000). Materials contribute 70% of the total cost of a building project Seeley (1995).

Approximately 136 Million tons of building related construction and demolition (C&D) debris is generated each year in the country C&D is generated DETR, (2000). Therefore, waste minimisation on building sites is an important element in project planning and control, and minimisation of waste should be given adequate attention. One of the primary focuses of a contractor is to deliver a project safely while maximising profit. Contractors survives, based on the profit realised as a result of their expertise.

Poor materials management can also result in substantial, but avoidable costs during construction. This could result in contractor’s use of insufficient materials and eventually nonconforming to specification, stemming from inadequate quantities of material usage for production.

1.1    Background to the Study

Failing to minimize waste there are grave consequences that could result from poor waste management in building construction sites, which could result in insufficiency of material for production on site, forcing contractors to produce non-conforming products. Firstly, the use of insufficient quantities of materials could lead to the partial or entire collapse of a structure. Weak Spots, on a structure are liable to Collapse, because of inadequate strength to withstand both the dead and imposed loads.

Secondly, it could lead to lack of patronage of the contractor, implying that the contractor cannot secure contracts, and ultimately result in liquidation. This means that both the contractor and his/ her employees will be non-operational and unemployed. Thirdly, it is a measure of a contractor’s competence. A collapsed building, which is attributable to inadequate strength of components of a building, could either be as a result of lack of construction knowledge on the Part of the contractor, or the contractor use of less quantity of materials for production. Fourthly, it exposes the level of competence of professionals in the industry at the instance of collapse of building, and that the industry is not safe. It must be understood that the infrastructure and development of a nation largely on the construction industry, and then mainly the building sector thereof.  Therefore, it is of paramount importance that materials are well managed on site to minimise wastage and its associated problems.

Waste generated by construction operations need to be taken seriously because construction industry contributes a significant waste to the overall waste volume in a country. Today, its importance has a definite impact and becomes essential in the pursuit of productivity goals. In addition to the need to be a well-informed society on waste, it is necessary to effectively communicate and develop adequate understanding on waste minimization. Now waste management is necessary. Recycling is one of the best options to convert the waste material into recycled contents.

1.2     Statement of Research Problem

Construction waste has many major impacts on the environment. There are varieties methods demand in execution of mega projects in Ekpoma, together with many commercial building and housing development programmed, a large amount of construction waste is being produced by the construction sector. Construction waste must be balance justifiably with waste disposal because the huge volume and various compositions have the potential to post serious problem and leads to other surrounding impacts. The process involves awareness, cleanliness conservation, and efficient waste management process. To sustain better monitoring of construction waste, the sustainable development must demonstrate benefits rather than sacrifice to the public.

The amount and type of waste products depends on factors, such as the stage of construction, type of construction work and disposal practices on site. Extra construction materials are usually planned due to the lack of consideration given to waste reduction during the planning and design stage to minimize the generation of waste.

The excessive wastage of raw materials, improper waste management and low awareness of the need for waste reduction are common in the local construction sites. Thus, waste minimization is an important area of concern in the implementation of waste management. Growth in construction activities generates construction waste which is fast becoming a serious environmental problem with deadly consequences Most of the construction and demolition, waste in our country are not recycled but end up in landfills occupying valuable land. not to mention the cost incurred in land filling. In line with this, a study on the benefits of waste minimization, the materials which could be recycled, Methods used to dispose waste materials and the factor as to why recycling is not popular was carried out.

1.3     Objectives of  Study

The objectives of this study are mainly:

The aim of this study is to minimize waste on construction sites. So to achieve this aim the following objectives are set below…

1. To identify type of construction waste generated on site
2. To make known the relevance of waste Management in the construction industry.

1.4     Scope of the Study

My scope of study covered building sites:  area of the study is in Ekpoma Edo state. And the application of construction waste management as in practice and to study the recycle method of construction waste in construction industry in Ekpoma.

1.5     Significance of the Study

This study done due to many reasons, the first reason and it is the important one which is considered as one of the three major environmental problems as construction industrial waste grows. That gives impact to the environment. So we can reduce that by construction management and to get benefit of waste minimization on construction site.

Also in this research we looking how to reduce the construction burden to the landfill and give more life to the landfill. Other reason of this study is how to prevent construction waste by which way and which method to minimized construction waste to give notification by those responsible or supervisor or contractor to the workers in site to work properly and how to prevent the sources of waste. Other than that, this study hopes to convince the responsibility of those that control or anyone who is involved in construction industry like builders, engineers, developer, construction site manager or supervisor and contractor that the best disposal of waste materials is recycling.

With recycling the materials will not give burden to landfill but will give more life to the landfill and will not sent to incinerators just the contractor can sent the materials to recycling centre or any recycling companies.

Doing recycling to the materials on site or sent to recycling centre will give profit to the contractor or at least will recoup his losses in same time that going to protect the landfill and give it more life. This is the way builders and contractors in building construction industry in Ekpoma can minimize and cut down on landfill site and protect the natural.

1.6     Definition of Terms

Land fill: A system in which waste material are buried underground.

Recycling: A process to change waste material into new product to prevent waste of potentially useful material

Waste

Is defined as unwanted or unusable material

Waste management

Is defined as the collection, transportation, and disposal of waste

Building

Is defined as any structure or enclosure of space with roof and wall for the protection of lives and property

1.8     Study Area (Ekpoma)

Ekpoma, located at latitude 6.75 degree north and longitude 6.13 degree east has an altitude of 330m, Ekpoma has a population of approximately 59,624 people. Ekpoma is the headquarters of Esan west local government area Edo state Nigeria, and has more than (24) twenty four towns and many villages. Some of them include:

1. Ekpoma
2. Ujemen
3. Iruekpen
4. Ihumudumun
5. Uhiele
6. Idumebo
7. Emuhi
8. Uke
9. Eguare

In the following community listed above, there is massive increase in population which has now Allow the increase in infrastructural development (buildings) that is ranging from various sizes and shapes. And thereby increasing waste from the each of these building site during construction.

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