Promoting sustainable construction waste management in Hong Kong

Similar to many affluent cities found elsewhere in the world, Hong Kong is currently facing a great challenge to manage the wastes generated from its construction and demolition (C&D) activities that has wide-ranging impacts on the environment. To tackle this, the Hong Kong Special and Administrative Region (HKSAR) Government has signalled the required changes by sorting out the inert substances from C&D waste for reusing and recycling and using recycled building materials in construction through its role as both a construction client and contractor. The current practices and attitudes of local project participants towards C&D wate management were collected through questionnaires. A total of 69 questionnaires were received: 61% of the respondents stated that their projects did not take any measures to collect and separate C&D wastes and 64% of the projects did not use recycled building materials in construction. The prevailing problems of local construction industry are addressed through examinations of the constraints involved in improving C&D waste treatment and according to the results of the survey, to evaluate the practicability of increasing the capability and capacity of the industry to learn to be more sustainable.