What?
The growth of the construction industry has affected the ecosystem through the generation of solid and toxic wastes. The sustainability issues that are faced through the creation of the hazardous wastes generated from the C&D activities affects the ecosystem. The major issues that are faced by the organizations in managing the wastes are due to the inefficiency of the treatment procedures to eradicate the different wastes. The C&D wastes affects the water bodies through leachate and the release of dioxins from the incineration practices affects the ecosystems of the regions. It was also reported that the growing rate of the wastes from the C&D activities has affected the healthy lifestyle of the people. The implementation of the National Waste Policy helps in providing a national framework for undertaking proper waste management and resource recovery by the year 2020 (Hiete 2013).
The purpose of the report is to identify the sustainable issue relating to the C&D waste management and thereby identify the different recommended actions through which the issues might be mitigated. On the other hand, the reflection on the socio- ecological aspects of the issues will be helping to identify the intensity of the issues and the manner in which they can be resolved.
The growth of the C&D practices has given rise to situations where harmful toxins are released in the atmosphere and absorbed in the food chains. It has affected the ecosystem as a whole of the region. In Australia the growth of the C&D wastes is influenced mainly by 58% of the untreated wastes which has resulted to hazardous contamination of the different regions. As per the Australian National Waste Report (2016), around 64 megatonne of waste was generated through the C&D activities that were undertaken by the organizations. The application of the systematic design has affected the functioning of the C&D waste management systems that are adhered by the national organizations. The National Waste Policy that is devised by the Australian government has helped the same in emphasizing on the different key aspects of management through providing a proper framework for identifying and mitigating the issues (Khalfan et al. 2015). The issues that are faced by the people while managing the wastes that are created through the C&D sources are due to the treatment of the wastes. Simion et al. (2013) stated that the complications in the treatment policies is mainly due to the emissions and the release of harmful dioxins and other toxic gases while undertaking incineration or landfills.
So what?
Landfills contribute to the largest waste treatment activity in Australia and most of the nations in the world. However, the utilization of landfills as an option for waste dumping affects the ecosystem of the region as the wastes are not decomposed and the toxic nature of the wastes are not reduced (Lachimpadi et al. 2012). The hazardous toxins are introduced in the food chains of the ecosystem and the water in the region is affected through leachate. The implementation of landfill as a waste management and treatment technique has affected the sustainability of the activities of the C&D based organizations.
The 3R design (reducing, recycling and reusing waste) will be helping the organizations in minimizing the quantity of solid C&D wastes from the different regions. The different implicative forces of utilizing the design are:
- The reduction of the solid waste generation through the different Construction based activities
- Recycling and reusing the generated wastes from the different portions of the region would be helping the organizations in minimizing the different wastes hat are created through the C&D practices.
The sustainability of the solutions is based on the effectiveness of the procedures that are implemented by the organizations as per the National Waste Policy. The different practices related to the C&D waste management is based on the reduction of the toxicity of the wastes. The reduction of the toxicity of the wastes is developed through the proper functioning of the systems of the management that is imposed by the organizations. The activities like incineration and composting will be helping organizations in maintaining the proficiency of the waste management systems (Wu et al. 2014). Sustainable management of the C&D waste management operations of the business will be facilitated through composting as it will be helping to reduce the toxin contents of the wastes. However, the most appropriate means of undertaking the treatment of the wastes are based on the recovery and Recycling of the wastes.
The chief stakeholders that are involved in the processes of the business are being enumerated in this section of the analysis:
|
Stakeholders |
Interests and values |
|
Waste generators |
Residential |
|
Transporters |
Material reprocesses and transportation |
|
Government agencies -local, regional, state and national levels |
Policy development |
The stakeholder values are based on the identification of the sustainable approach that is being undertaken by the organization depending on the policies that are implemented by the government agencies (Wong and Zhou 2015). The group functioning on the stakeholders will be helping the organizations in the different economies to induce sustainable approach in the C&D waste management techniques.
The effectiveness of the C&D waste management procedure depends on the effectiveness of the practices and the techniques. The findings indicate that there is a comparative rise in the recovery rates which is 75%, which has helped the nation in decreasing the levels of waste creation in the Construction and demolition (C&D) waste management in Australia. The reduction in the wastes through recycling of the same has helped the nation in minimizing the quantities of waste generated from the C&D undertakings. The implementation of the concept of Reduce, Reuse and Recycle has helped the organizations in diverse economies to adhere to the C&D based waste management practices (Yuan et al. 2012).
What now?
The wastes that are created by the different C&D undertakers has relentlessly affected the wellbeing of the organisms and dynamically affected the ecosystem. Open dumping of the C&D wastes and land filling activities has affected the environments as the decomposition of the wastes release harmful chemical and toxins in the environment (Gangolells et al. 2014). It has affected the proper functioning of the systems of the business while operating in the international markets. The socio- ecological nature of the issue that is being portrayed is based on the level of contamination that is induced by the C&D waste. The generation of wastes and contamination of the same has affected the lifestyle of the individuals, the community and the environment at large. The implementation of the proper C&D waste management techniques like recycling and recovery of wastes has helped in upholding the sustainable approach (Yuan 2013).
The socio- ecological thinking process of the policy developers are focused on the different ill effects of the wastes that re created during the C&D undertakings. The wastes that are generated from the C&D activities is based on contamination of the solid wastes and the release of hazardous toxins in the environment (Kucukvar, Egilmez and Tatari 2014). The National Waste Policy that is formulated by the Australian government has helped ion reducing the levels of wastes through recycling of the same. Land filling activities has contributed to most of the contamination and the emission of the greenhouse gases. Emissions of Methane and the dioxins while incinerating affected the environment more dynamically (Australian National Waste Report 2016). The identification of the different issues has helped the governments and Environmental agencies in upholding different policies in order to support the sustainable framework of the C&D waste management. The socio- ecological thinking process enhances the outcome of the organization in maintaining their standards as per the government policies. It will be helping to bring in improvements in the C&D waste management policies that are undertaken by the businesses.
The uncertainty of the waste management practice of recycling the wastes is uncertain in different situations as the removal of the toxins might not be fully accomplished. There are different wastes on which treatment of recycling the same and recovery is ineffective. On the other hand, the high cost of recycling the wastes might create a barrier to the safe implementation of the C&D waste management process. Behera et al. (2014) stated that the proper implementation of different machineries helps organization in minimizing the effects.
What else?
Recycling the wastes will be helping organizations in minimizing the costs. The productivity of the organizations and the minimization of waste creation are boosted through the proper functioning of waste management practices. It has helped in acting as a dual factor of enhancing the sustainability of the organizations and the environments (Zaman 2014). On the other hand, the practices will be helping organization to reduce the rate of open dumping and landfills, which affected the ecosystem through leachating and emission of dioxins from the wastes. The sustainability issues in the practice are due to the growing rate of contamination (Cheng and Ma 2013). Therefore, the implementation of incineration and composting ion the processes of the C&D waste management will be helping to enhance the practices as per the objectives of reducing the contamination levels.
Conclusion
Therefore, from the above analysis it can be stated that the progression and advancement of the construction industry has contributed to the growth of the C&D wastes in the different regions. The different practices that are undertaken by the organizations for the proper management of the wastes are based on the efficiency of the practices. Identifying the nature of the wastes and thereby implementing the different techniques like incineration and composting helps in reducing the toxicity of the wastes that are generated from the C&D based undertakers. The report identifies the applicability of the 3R concept and thereby identify the uncertainty factors relating to the utilization of the 3R.
References
Australian National Waste Report 2016. [online] Environment.gov.au. Available at: https://www.environment.gov.au/system/files/resources/d075c9bc-45b3-4ac0-a8f2-6494c7d1fa0d/files/national-waste-report-2016.pdf [Accessed 21 Aug. 2018].
Behera, M., Bhattacharyya, S.K., Minocha, A.K., Deoliya, R. and Maiti, S., 2014. Recycled aggregate from C&D waste & its use in concrete–A breakthrough towards sustainability in construction sector: A review. Construction and building materials, 68, pp.501-516.
Cheng, J.C. and Ma, L.Y., 2013. A BIM-based system for demolition and renovation waste estimation and planning. Waste management, 33(6), pp.1539-1551.
Gangolells, M., Casals, M., Forcada, N. and Macarulla, M., 2014. Analysis of the implementation of effective waste management practices in construction projects and sites. Resources, conservation and recycling, 93, pp.99-111.
Hiete, M., 2013. Waste management plants and technology for recycling construction and demolition (C&D) waste: state-of-the-art and future challenges. In Handbook of Recycled Concrete and Demolition Waste (pp. 53-75).
Khalfan, M., Noor, M., Maqsood, T., Alshanbri, N., Rahmani, F. and Sagoo, A., 2015. Perceptions towards sustainable construction amongst construction contractors in state of Victoria, Australia. Journal of Economics, Business and Management, 3(10), pp.940-947.
Kucukvar, M., Egilmez, G. and Tatari, O., 2014. Evaluating environmental impacts of alternative construction waste management approaches using supply-chain-linked life-cycle analysis. Waste Management & Research, 32(6), pp.500-508.
Lachimpadi, S.K., Pereira, J.J., Taha, M.R. and Mokhtar, M., 2012. Construction waste minimisation comparing conventional and precast construction (Mixed System and IBS) methods in high-rise buildings: A Malaysia case study. Resources, Conservation and Recycling, 68, pp.96-103.
Simion, I.M., Fortuna, M.E., Bonoli, A. and Gavrilescu, M., 2013. Comparing environmental impacts of natural inert and recycled construction and demolition waste processing using LCA. Journal of environmental engineering and landscape management, 21(4), pp.273-287.
Wong, J.K.W. and Zhou, J., 2015. Enhancing environmental sustainability over building life cycles through green BIM: A review. Automation in Construction, 57, pp.156-165.
Wu, Z., Ann, T.W., Shen, L. and Liu, G., 2014. Quantifying construction and demolition waste: an analytical review. Waste Management, 34(9), pp.1683-1692.
Yuan, H., 2013. Key indicators for assessing the effectiveness of waste management in construction projects. Ecological Indicators, 24, pp.476-484.
Yuan, H., Chini, A.R., Lu, Y. and Shen, L., 2012. A dynamic model for assessing the effects of management strategies on the reduction of construction and demolition waste. Waste management, 32(3), pp.521-531.
Zaman, A.U., 2014. Measuring waste management performance using the ‘Zero Waste Index’: the case of Adelaide, Australia. Journal of Cleaner Production, 66, pp.407-419.
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