Construction and demolition waste management and its impacts on the environment and human health: Moving forward sustainability enhancement

Rapid population growth with industrialization, modernization, and urbanization has stimulated construction activities. Demolition activities have widely been undertaken to replace old buildings and civil structures with better, bigger, and/or newer ones. The construction and demolition activities generate tremendous amounts of construction waste (CW) and demolition waste (DW) consisting of a large variety of materials with varying properties. Many types of CW and DW contain various types of pollutants such as fine residues, heavy metals, and persistent organic chemicals; thereby having deleterious impacts on the environment and human health. This study comprehensively analyzes various data and survey on the generation and characteristics of CW and DW, their current management methods, as well as the environmental and health effects of CW and DW constituents and their management. Based on the comprehensive analysis, the strategies for sustainably managing CW and DW are devised to alleviate negative impacts of current CW and DW management. Sustainable management of CW and DW should be considered at each stage of a construction project (from planning/design to post-construction). It is hoped that this study will contribute to reducing the burden of CW and DW on the construction industry and local communities.