Construction and Demolition Waste Management in Wa: What We Know and What We Can Do
Construction industry in Washington State(WA) has been growing steadily since the past decades even during the pandemic time period with an expected 22 billion market volume in 2021. Nevertheless, construction industries are critical of unsustainability in the region as majority of the construction and demolition waste are directly sent to landfill without any further treatment. To improve the waste management and to reduce landfill waste as a final aim, it is necessary to examine the whole waste management system from approving a construction project to deconstruct one. The purpose of this literature review is to explore the opportunities and challenges in WA construction waste management with the goal of increasing utilization of construction materials and reducing construction waste. During my internship at the Engh Group, I joined several conferences and online discussion to learn about the industry and current state of waste management. Besides, I was able to get involved in a waste management project and material reuse solution creation project. Lastly, I utilized scholar resources and official governmental websites to complete the literature review. One major finding is that building a circular economy within the industry would help creating a healthy industry with higher utilization of construction materials. These results hopefully can provide insights on how to improve the current waste management system to provide a more throughout management on construction waste. Also, this can provide views on how to reduce landfill waste in general from the construction industry on the level of management.
