SUSTAINABLE CONSTRUCTION - OVERCOMING BARRIERS IN CONCRETE RECYCLING IN SINGAPORE

Abstract

Construction industry is one of the major consumers of materials therefore, it is important to reduce resources consumption to move towards sustainable construction in order to attain sustainable development. This can be achieved through recycling construction materials. Singapore lacks natural resources and most of them, especially sand and aggregates used for producing concrete, are imported from the neighbouring countries. Therefore, recycling concrete has been suggested as methods which not only can help overcome the problem of resources shortages, but also achieve sustainable development.

The idea of concrete recycling is not new. However, the adoption has been slow due to some of the barriers that prevent or limit the construction industry from using recycled concrete in the project. This study aims to find out how the industry can be encouraged to adopt recycled concrete. It will first highlight the importance of concrete and analyze the needs and advantages of concrete recycling. Various barriers to recycling concrete that prevent people from using them, or limiting the use of recycled concrete to non-structural works will be discussed. Some measures to overcome would then be recommended.

The research method for this study consisted of questionnaire sent to local contractor firms and interviews conducted with local construction personnel and expert. Snow-balling sampling and random sampling methods were used for the survey data collection. However, the relatively low number of responses constitute to the limitation of this dissertation.

Barriers identified were classified as internal, such as strict quality control and high capital cost, and external that includes client’s non requirement. The measures identified are collaboration between professional organizations and tertiary institutes to educate future professionals, more subsidies to be provided by government for using recycled concrete and more workshop and seminars are organized. This study hypothesize that recycled concrete can be used for structural components and barriers like lack of awareness and lack of government support can be overcome. The increased usage of recycled concrete would be essential in order to reduce new natural resources consumption and ensure the construction industry contributes towards sustainable development.