A study on construction and demolition wastes from buildings in

Seberang Perai
Faridah A.H.Asaari1, Hasmanie Bt Abdul Halim2, M Hasnain Isa1
1
School Of Civil Engineering, Engineering Campus, Universiti Sains Malaysia,14300,Nibong Tebal, Penang.
2
Faculty of Civil Engineering and Natural Resources, College University of Engineering and Technology Malaysia
(KUKTM), 25000, Kuantan, Pahang

ABSTRACT: Construction and demolition (C&D) waste is defined as solid, bulky, largely inert waste result-
ing from the construction, renovation or demolition of buildings structures. As a whole, C&D wastes are con-
sidered to be composed of inert materials that will not leach into the groundwater. Even though C&D waste
present a lower risk to human health and the environment compared to municipal solid waste, the bulky waste
definitely consume a lot of space at landfills. C&D waste will increase from time to time in proportion to the
development of a town and country. Thus, the necessity of finding appropriate solution to C&D waste desti-
nation must be clear. Hence, a study on the C&D waste generated has been conducted aiming to establish data
on material composition, cost of handling and disposal, and the extent of waste recovery and type of disposal.
A survey of 30 construction and demolition projects throughout the Seberang Perai area was made between
August 2001 and January 2003. In addition, in order to get the representative data of C&D waste, public and
private authorities were interviewed, and field study at Pulau Burung Sanitary Landfill was carried out.

Key words: Construction and demolition (C&D) waste, material composition, landfill disposal, recovery, re-
cycling.

1 INTRODUCTION The purpose of this study is to characterize

Seberang Perai area consists of three districts which
include Seberang Perai Utara, Seberang Perai Ten-
gah, and Seberang Perai Selatan. The total popula-
tion in 2001 is about 736,306 and its population
growth rate is 1.8 percent (Penang Town Planning
Department, 2002). This means that Seberang Perai
will be facing a steady increase in population growth
that will definitely demand the development of new
residential areas as well as commercial and institu-
tional buildings (Hasmanie, 2003). An increase of
development projects will consequently increase the
amount of construction and demolition (C&D) waste
generated.
C&D waste composes of solid, bulky, largely in-
ert waste resulting from the construction, renovation
or demolition of buildings structures. However, it
has been very difficult to obtain records and data on
this kind of waste since C&D waste are dumped
both legally and illegally, and in different places
such as near road sides, illegal dumpsites from time
to time in proportion to the development of the state.
Reducing, reusing and recycling of C&D waste ap-
pear to be possible alternatives that will increase the
lifetime of landfills and reduce exploration of natural
resources (Woolley, 2000).
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building related C&D waste generated based on 30
selected construction sites in Seberang Perai. A bet-
ter understanding of the composition of C&D waste
can be gained by examining its various components.
C&D waste can be classified based on two sources:
new constructions and demolitions. While the types
of waste generated from these two sources are simi-
lar, the amount of each material produced is differ-
ent. Furthermore, C&D waste can be classified into
materials that could be recycled, reused and inert
landfill materials. Generally, the generation and
composition of C&D waste is site specific and de-
pends on design, location and previous use of the
site.
2 METHODOLOGY
In order to get representative data of C&D waste,
about 30 construction sites (operated between Au-
gust 2001 until January 2003) were selected and
questionnaires were sent out to site responsible per-
sonnels. In addition, related information from Majlis
Perbandaran Seberang Perai (MPSP) concerning
C&D waste and data from Pulau Burung Sanitary
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Landfill (January 2002 – January 2003) database
were also collected.
The questionnaire was developed based on the
types of project, project period and area, types and
quantity of waste generated, and method of waste
disposal. Besides the sent questionnaire, information
for this study was also partly collected from detailed
interviews held with the public and private authori-
ties in the Seberang Perai area. The face to face in-
terviews were conducted in the early stage of the
study in order to get the necessary data and informa-
tion about construction and demolition waste gener-
ated and a general view of their waste management
in this study area.
The interviews were designed to provide overall
information on;
i) Materials: quantities, types and composition of
wastes generated.
ii) Transport and handling: waste separation
techniques, transport network and cost, dis-
posal methods and charges.
iii) Possibility of waste minimization: reduce, reuse and
recycling.
2.1 Field Study at Pulau Burung Sanitary Landfill
Data for the C&D waste that has been disposed in
Pulau Burung Sanitary Landfill (PBSL) was col-
lected based on daily records from August 2001 up
to January 2003. It was quantified based on their
weight. In order to get the data on waste composi-
tion, wastes from three randomly selected C&D
waste lorries were analysed. Firstly, the waste from
each lorry was sorted into four categories which
were:
i) concrete and bricks,
ii) steels and aluminiums,
iii) woods, and
iv) others (glass, electrical and plumbing fixtures,
tiles etc.).
Secondly, the weight for each category of waste
material was determined to obtain the percentage of
waste composition.
3 RESULT AND DISCUSSION
Discussions of results will be according to the fol-
lowing subtopics:
3.1 Data From Pulau Burung Sanitary Landfill
Figure 1 shows that C&D waste accounted for 585.4
tonnes or 0.4 percent of the total solid waste dis-
posed at Pulau Burung Sanitary Landfill within the 9
months study period. Although C&D wastes was the
second smallest portion of the total solid waste dis-
posed, consideration of effective and efficient man-
agement is required to reduce or minimize it because
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C&D waste is bulky, cannot be compacted and will
take up permanent space in the landfill. As noted in
Figure 1, the industrial waste represented the largest
portion (78.21 percent) of solid waste that was dis-
posed of, followed by domestic waste which was
14.75 percent of the total solid wastes. This is be-
cause Seberang Perai is the most developed indus-
trial area in the northern region of Peninsular Malay-
sia. Commercial waste contributed only 3.68 percent
of total solid waste disposed and followed by other
wastes at 2.8 percent.
Commercial
C&D Waste
0.40%
Waste
Other Waste
3.68% Domestic Waste
14.75%
2.80%
Garden Waste
0.17%
Industrial Waste
78.21%
Figure 1. Waste disposal at Pulau Burung Landfill (% by weight)
Figure 2 displays the average composition of
C&D waste materials disposed at the Pulau Burung
Sanitary landfill. This C&D waste composition was
generally based on the average of three load-
samples, which were sorted and weighed at the land-
fill site.
Other
5%
Metals
15%
Wood
20%
Concrete
& Bricks 60%
Figure 2. C&D composition at PBSL (% by weight)
The percentage of concrete and bricks is consid-
erably higher, as may be expected as the structure of
buildings are mostly based on concrete and bricks.
Wood component included stumps, plywood, lami-
nates and scraps, which contributed about 20 percent
of C&D waste disposed. Metal components included
pipes, reinforced bar, steel, aluminum, copper, brass
and stainless steel. Metal components contributed
about 15 percent of the C&D waste composition and
were followed by the other C&D wastes, which were
about 5 percent. Other C&D waste comprised of
glass, drywall, fixtures and ceramic tiles.
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3.2 Data From Questionnaires And Survey portion of C&D waste components with the amount
of 2,558 tonnes or 69.1 percent of total C&D waste
For analysis purposes, building C&D waste is di-
generation from institutional construction projects.
vided into five categories, which include residential,
The majority of wood component are from plywood
commercial and institutional constructions, and
commercial and institutional demolition projects. In- and engineering wood, which were used as form-
stitutional buildings include schools, university and work during building construction works.
government offices, and commercial buildings con-
Table 2. C&D Waste Generation from Institutional / Educa-
sist of public and private commercial buildings such
tional Construction Activity from Questionnaires
as shop lots, food courts and public markets.
Material Weight (tonne) Percentage of Total
Table 1 shows the C&D waste generated from the Amount
five different project categories. From the survey,
Concrete 456 12.32
70.46 percent of wastes were generated from fifteen
Metals 356 9.62
institutional construction sites representing the larg-
Bricks 242 6.54
est waste generation in the stream. Residential build-
Plastics 16 0.43
ing construction contributes about 17.43 percent of
Woods 2,558 69.10
waste generated from eight sites, followed by com- Others 74 2.00
mercial construction at 5.06 percent. In this study, TOTAL 3,702 100
only two demolition projects have been gathered and
analyzed due to the lack of building’s being demol-
ished compared to the new building construction in Concrete and metals make up to 12.32 and 9.62
Seberang Perai area. These two demolition projects percent respectively, followed by bricks at 6.54 per-
represented about 7.04 percent of the total C&D cent. Other waste and plastics, contribute about 2.00
waste generation. and 0.43 percent of the total C&D waste respec-
Table 1. &D waste generation by individual sectors from tively. Table 3 shows the breakdown, in percent of
questionnaires total, of material composition for residential con-
struction waste generation.
Construction/Demolition Number Contribution to
Projects of Pro- Total C&D Waste
Table 3. C&D Waste Generation from Residential Structures
jects Generated (% of
by Construction Activity fom Questionnaires
total amount)
Residential Construction 8 17.43 Material Weight (tonne) Percentage of Total
Commercial Construction 5 5.06 Amount
Commercial Demolition 1 2.76 Concrete 230 25.11
Institutional/Government 15 70.46 Metals 92 10.04
Construction Bricks 126 13.76
Institutional/government 1 4.28 Plastics 17 1.86
Demolition Woods 436 47.60
TOTAL 30 100 Others 15 1.64
TOTAL 916 100

3.3 Waste from Construction Projects

Again, wood is the major contributor of waste com-
Estimation of construction waste generation for position at about 47.60 percent, followed by con-
this analysis have been done by reviewing the num- crete and bricks at 25.11 and 13.76 percent, respec-
ber of construction sites, then estimating the amount tively. Plastics and other wastes contribute a small
of C&D waste material produced by each type of portion of waste generated at residential construction
building construction. Although the building con- site with only 1.86 and 1.64 percent, respectively.
struction and demolition samples are very limited in
this study, selection of the common types and size of Table 4. C&D Waste Generation from Commercial Structures
projects can be useful for making early estimates of by Construction Activity From Questionnaires
C&D waste generation for certain types of construc-
Material Weight (tonne) Percentage of Total
tion projects. Amount
Table 2 shows the amount of construction waste
generated from fifteen institutional/educational pro- Concrete 68.4 25.74
ject sites. A total of 3,702 tonnes of waste were pro- Metals 27.0 10.16
duced. The main components of construction waste Bricks 34.3 12.91
include concrete, metals, bricks, plastics, woods, and Plastics 4.2 1.58
other waste such as drywall, tiles, glass, and trim Woods 124.0 46.67
pieces of roofing materials. Wood represents a major Others 7.8 2.94
TOTAL 265.7 100
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 Table 6. Material Composition of Commercial Demolition Pro-
Table 4 shows the similar component of construc- ject from Questionnaires
tion waste. There are about 265.7 tonnes of total
Material Weight Percentage of Total
construction waste generated from five commercial
(tonne) Amount
construction sites. Similar to the C&D waste gener-
ated from institutional and residential construction Concrete 45 31.03
projects, wood material also become the major com- Metals 70 48.28
Bricks 5 3.45
ponent of waste generated from the commercial con-
Plastics 5 3.45
struction projects.
Glass 5 3.45
Woods 5 3.45
Others 10 6.90
3.4 Waste from Demolition Projects TOTAL 145 100
Table 5 shows the details of waste quantities and
composition generated from institutional demolition
activities. This data resulted from a demolition project,
which involved a demolished food court building.
Table 5: Material Composition from Institutional/ Educa- The contribution of C&D waste, made by this demo-
tional Demolition Project from Questionnaires lition project is estimated about 145 tonnes or 2.76
Material Weight (tonne) Percentage of Total percent of total C&D waste generated in this study.
Amount In this case, metals were the largest portion of
Concrete 50 22.32 C&D waste due to the major metal-based structure
Metals 40 17.86 such as steel, aluminum, and reinforcement bar from
Bricks 80 35.71 the tear down of reinforced concrete structure.
Plastics 5 2.23 Therefore, the C&D waste generation and composi-
Glass 5 2.23 tion of demolition projects depend on the design,
Woods 40 17.86 types and size of building. In addition, the demoli-
Others 4 1.79 tion method also affected the quantities of C&D
TOTAL 224 100 waste generation. Since this is a one level building,
therefore, the conventional method was used for de-
Demolition wastes included a wide range of materi- molishing the structures.
als such as concrete, metals, bricks, plastics, glass, The usual demolition method involved demolish-
woods and other products generally used in the ing all the beams, columns and floor slabs using
building industry. Actually, this was an old school backhoe, followed by grubbing up pile caps and un-
block demolition project. It has been estimated that used drains. All the materials that may be reuse and
this building demolition accounts for approximately recycled were collected and separated on site. The
224 tonnes or 4.48 percent of total C&D waste gen- total of C&D wastes generated from these thirty
eration from thirty sites. The structure of this build- sites is summarized in Table 7.
ing was mostly based on concrete and bricks. Basi-
cally, the concrete was from building structures such Table 7: Quantities of Waste Material Composition from Con-
as column, beam and floor, whereas bricks were struction and Demolition Activities from Questionnaires
from demolished walls. Wood and metals were the Material Construction Demolition
second major component of demolition waste gener- Weight % Total Weight Percentage of
ated. The metals were from reinforcement bar, door (tonne) Amount (tonne) Total Amount
and window grill, and electrical and plumbing pipe Concrete 754.40 15.45 95 25.68
or conduit, which were recovered and sorted during Metals 475.00 9.73 110 29.73
demolition work. Plastics, glass and other materials Bricks 402.30 8.24 85 22.97
were found as a minor component of waste gener- Plastics 37.20 0.76 10 2.70
Glass 0.00 0.00 10 2.70
ated from demolished building. Woods 3,118.00 63.85 45 12.16
Bricks and concrete represented as the two largest Others 96.80 1.98 15 4.05
components of waste generated at 35.71 and 22.32 TOTAL 4,883.70 100 370 100
percent respectively followed by woods and metals
both at 17.86 percent. However, plastics, glass and
other waste materials contributed a small portion of
waste generation at 2.23 and 1.79 percent, respec- 3.5 Cost of C&D Waste Handling and Disposal
tively. Table 6 shows the C&D waste generated Removal of C&D wastes from site will incur labour,
from commercial demolition project. storage and transportation costs, and landfill dump-
ing fees as well. The cost of removal and disposal
could be significant.
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Table 8 shows the average costs of total projects and
waste handling, transport and disposal within those
thirty projects, which were obtained from the ques-
tionnaire carried out.
Table 8. Average cost of Total Projects and Waste Handling,
Transport and Disposal from Questionnaires
Cost of Total Project Nos. of Constr. Cost of Waste Han-
/Demoli Pro- dling, Transport and
jects Disposal for Each
Project
Less than RM 1,000,000 2* RM 5,000 – RM
10,000
RM 1,000,000 - RM 5 RM 3,000 - RM
5,000,000 10,000
RM 5,000,000 - RM 8 RM 5,000 - RM
10,000,000 15,000
RM 10,000,000 - RM 5 RM 10,000 - RM
20,000,000 30,000
RM 20,000,000 - RM 8 RM 20,000 - RM
50,000,000 50,000
RM 50,000,000 - RM 2 RM 50,000 - RM
100,000,000 70,000
*Demolition projects
Cost of waste handling, transport and disposal
mainly depended on the amount of waste generated
on site or based on size of the project. From the
questionnaire, the average cost of waste handling,
transportation and disposal were about 0.1 to 0.3
percent of the total project cost. This involved cost
of labour, transport, and landfill charges. For in-
stance, at Pulau Burung Sanitary Landfill the
charges are RM 32.00 per tonne for C&D waste.
Trucking and transportation costs were estimated
based on distance and time consumed per each trip.
The construction industries were extremely con-
cerned about time and costs. The responsibility for
these outcomes rests with the project manager. It
will be very impractical to consider waste reduction
unless the time and effort spent in recycling and re-
ducing waste improves the progress of the project.
Figure 3 illustrates the average of C&D waste that
have been recovered and disposed through landfill-
ing, recycling and reusing, burning and burying on
site for the thirty construction and demolition pro-
jects. There were about 45.51 percent of C&D waste
generated being disposed -off at public and private
landfill, and other places such as at road side, 35.95
percent have been recycled and reused for existing
or other projects, 12.64 and 5.90 percent have been
burned and buried on site, respectively.
After completion of the project, contractors usu-
ally allow private companies to salvage materials or
waste that could be recycled or reused from the site.
For instance, after demolition activities, a lot of ma-
terials have been salvaged, and then resold and re-
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used for constructing a new building of a new pro-
ject.
Recycling
& Reusing
Landfilling
35.95%
45.51%
Burying
5.90%Burning
12.64%
Figure 3. Average C&D Waste Material Recovery and
Disposal
4 CONCLUSION
This study only concentrated on the C&D waste
generated from building construction and demolition
projects and excluded C&D waste generated from
other civil engineering constructions, namely road
and bridge projects. The overall amount of C&D
waste arising in these thirty projects from construc-
tion activities composed of 63.85 percent by weight
wood, 15.45 percent concrete, 9.73 percent metals,
bricks and plastics at 8.24 and 0.96 percent respec-
tively. However from demolition activities, C&D
waste composed of 29.73 percent metals, 25.68 per-
cent concrete, then, followed by bricks at 22.97 per-
cent, plastics and glass at about 2.70 percent each,
and 4.05 percent other waste.
In order to minimize the amount of C&D waste
generated, there is a need to identify the sources and
factors that caused large amount of C&D waste gen-
eration. It largely depends on the parties involved in
the construction industry including developers, con-
tractors, engineers and architects. In addition, the
government should enforce laws on the proper man-
agement of C&D wastes.
5 REFERENCES
Hasmanie Bt Abdul Halim (2003). A Study of Building
Construction and Demolition Waste In Seberang Perai,
MSc Thesis, Universiti Sains Malaysia.
Penang Town Planning Department (2002). Penang Second
Development Strategic Plan (2001-2010)
Woolly G.R., Goumans J.J.J.M and Wainwright P.J.,
(2000). Waste Materials in Construction – Science and
Engineering of Recycling for Environmental Protection’,
Waste Management Series, Vol. 1, Pergamon .
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