Strategies for construction waste management in ho chi minh city, vietnam

Built Environment Project and Asset Management St rat egies f or const ruct ion wast e management in Ho Chi Minh Cit y, Viet nam Florence Yean Yng Ling Dinh Song Anh Nguyen Article information: To cite this document: Florence Yean Yng Ling Dinh Song Anh Nguyen, (2013),"Strategies for construction waste management in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam", Built Environment Project and Asset Management, Vol Iss pp 141 - 156 Permanent link t o t his document : Downloaded by Taylor's University SDN BHD At 02:34 21 June 2015 (PT) http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/BEPAM-08-2012-0045 Downloaded on: 21 June 2015, At : 02: 34 (PT) Ref erences: t his document cont ains ref erences t o 27 ot her document s To copy t his document : permissions@emeraldinsight com The f ullt ext of t his document has been downloaded 505 t imes since 2013* Users who downloaded this article also downloaded: Mohammed Arif, Deepthi Bendi, Tahsin Toma-Sabbagh, Monty Sutrisna, (2012),"Construction waste management in India: an exploratory study", Construction Innovation, Vol 12 Iss pp 133-155 J.K Yates, (2013),"Sustainable methods for waste minimisation in construction", Construction Innovation, Vol 13 Iss pp 281-301 Bon-Gang Hwang, Zong Bao Yeo, (2011),"Perception on benefits of construction waste management in the Singapore construction industry", Engineering, Construction and Architectural Management, Vol 18 Iss pp 394-406 http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/09699981111145835 Access t o t his document was grant ed t hrough an Emerald subscript ion provided by emerald-srm: 534421 [ ] For Authors If you would like t o writ e f or t his, or any ot her Emerald publicat ion, t hen please use our Emerald f or Aut hors service inf ormat ion about how t o choose which publicat ion t o writ e f or and submission guidelines are available f or all Please visit www emeraldinsight com/ aut hors f or more inf ormat ion About Emerald www.emeraldinsight.com Emerald is a global publisher linking research and pract ice t o t he benef it of societ y The company manages a port f olio of more t han 290 j ournals and over 2, 350 books and book series volumes, as well as providing an ext ensive range of online product s and addit ional cust omer resources and services Emerald is both COUNTER and TRANSFER compliant The organization is a partner of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and also works with Portico and the LOCKSS initiative for digital archive preservation *Relat ed cont ent and download inf ormat ion correct at t ime of download The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at www.emeraldinsight.com/2044-124X.htm Strategies for construction waste management in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam Florence Yean Yng Ling Construction waste management 141 Department of Building, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore, and Dinh Song Anh Nguyen Downloaded by Taylor's University SDN BHD At 02:34 21 June 2015 (PT) Langdon and Seah, Singapore, Singapore Abstract Purpose – There is a lack of waste minimization in Vietnam This study aims to investigate the barriers that are faced in implementing waste management and the extent to which waste management practices are adopted It recommends improvements to management of waste in Vietnam, with a focus on Ho Chi Minh City Design/methodology/approach – Using the questionnaire survey approach, data were collected from construction practitioners in Vietnam using the self-administrated postal survey Findings were validated via in-depth interviews with three experts Findings – There is a lack of awareness about construction and waste minimization in Vietnam Effective waste management for Vietnam are: employ subcontractors with waste management ability; conduct training; audit and provide close supervision of subcontractors and workers; sequence activities to reduce damage to completed work; set level of wastage allowable; and enforce these through rewards and punishments Research limitations/implications – As the survey was conducted on a small sample size of contractors in Ho Chi Minh City, the findings may not be representative of the whole of Vietnam The data were based on respondents’ perceptions rather than factual records Practical implications – The effective strategies identified by this study could be used by construction industry practitioners in Vietnam to reduce waste generated, and thereby undertake construction in a more sustainable manner Social implications – The benefits of better waste management include: improved environmental credentials; savings in disposal and transport costs; revenue from reuse and recycling; and reduced cost of materials Originality/value – Vietnam is undergoing infrastructure development, and these construction projects have large impacts on the environment This study identified areas in which waste management is found wanting, and suggested ways for Vietnam to improve Keywords Construction waste, Material wastage, Waste management, Vietnam, Barriers, Waste minimization, Waste Paper type Research paper Introduction While waste management has been studied in other countries, Vietnam deserves its own study due to its unique political, social, economic and technological situations Vietnam is a socialist republic with a one-party system led by the Communist party of Vietnam It has a centrally planned economy which is dominated by state-owned enterprises that produce about 40 per cent of its gross domestic product (GDP) (Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), 2012) Agriculture and manufacturing sectors’ share of economic output are 22 and 40 per cent, respectively (CIA, 2012) Construction products are needed by the manufacturing sector to carry out productive activities, and Built Environment Project and Asset Management Vol No 1, 2013 pp 141-156 r Emerald Group Publishing Limited 2044-124X DOI 10.1108/BEPAM-08-2012-0045 BEPAM 3,1 Downloaded by Taylor's University SDN BHD At 02:34 21 June 2015 (PT) 142 to facilitate socioeconomic development The strong demand for construction products leads to a construction boom One of the typical characteristics of unprecedented construction boom in a developing country is a lack of attention to managing construction waste Minimizing construction waste is important because this could reduce the environmental stress imposed on the population who rely on the natural ecosystem for their livelihoods through agriculture With its limited financial resources, minimizing construction waste leads to savings in disposal and transport costs, increased revenue from reusing and recycling materials and reducing cost of materials From the economic angle, this results in more affordable housing and infrastructure systems to support the rapid urbanization process As Vietnam’s technological development stage is relatively immature (Nguyen et al., 2004a), the problem is that it may not have the capability to undertake waste management The aim of this study is to propose waste management strategies for adoption in Vietnam’s construction industry In the context of Vietnam, the specific objectives are to: investigate waste management performance of construction projects; identify the barriers that are faced in implementing waste management; study the extent to which waste management practices are adopted, and thereby recommend improvements to management of waste in Vietnam The purpose of the study is to inform industry practitioners of the more effective waste management practices in Vietnam The scope of this research is focused on local construction firms that are headquartered in Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) HCMC is selected because it is the financial centre of Vietnam, and attracts a large amount of investment capital from both local and foreign organizations There are thus many construction projects in HCMC, and their waste management practices could be investigated This study focused on construction material wastage because of its importance and implications on both the environment and the efficiency of construction activities Literature review There is a need to reduce construction and demolition waste for environmental and economic reasons (Teo and Loosemore, 2001) Waste generated from construction projects has a negative environmental impact (Shen and Tam, 2002) According to ElHaggar (2007), effective construction waste management could decrease non-renewable waste and conserve natural resources Waste forms a significant contribution to landfill, and there is a need to conserve the dwindling landfill resources (McDonald and Smithers, 1998) As waste involves costs, ranging from original purchase prices to transportation, handling and disposing expenses, it has strong implication on a contractor’s profitability (Ekanayake and Ofori, 2004) The potential benefits of waste management include: improved environmental credentials; savings in disposal and transport costs; revenue from reusing and recycling; and reduced cost of materials (McDonald and Smithers, 1998; Teo and Loosemore, 2001) A waste management system aims to reduce excessive usage and encourage reusing and recycling of components and materials (Ling and Lim, 2002) The effectiveness of waste management on a construction site may be ascertained by: quantity of materials used in the project (actual vs plan); quantity of waste generated (actual vs plan); quantity of waste that were reused/recycled (actual vs maximum reusable quantity); quality performance of reused/recycled waste; extent to which the level of waste generation caused difficulties/problems; and level of success of waste management Downloaded by Taylor's University SDN BHD At 02:34 21 June 2015 (PT) A review of literature on waste management strategies shows that the practices may be categorized into: procurement; management of subcontractors and the workforce; training and supervision; material handling and control; and communication and documentation Procurement: in procuring the services of subcontractors, the selection criteria should include their environmental awareness, and not just their price (Kumaraswamy and Matthews, 2000) Management of subcontractors and workforce: Dainty and Brooke (2004) found that effective measures of waste minimization are those that foster waste minimization partnerships throughout the supply chain, and this includes subcontractors Training and supervision: work-specific training and close supervision in waste management is important because a large proportion of the workforce is unskilled (Ofori and Debrah, 1998) Subcontractors’ wasteful practices stem from their lack of training in adopting less wasteful practices and dealing with waste, misconception of waste and a lack of appreciation for the value of materials (Ling and Lim, 2002) Material handling and control: Guthrie and Mallet (1995) suggested that wastage of materials on site can be attributed to damage and spillage, contamination, storage beyond use-by date, over supply, out of specification, theft and vandalism Proper material handling and control would improve the quality of construction material supplied (Ekanayake and Ofori, 2004) Communication and documentation: inadequate communication and a lack of data flow has negatively affected waste management (Kulatunga et al., 2006) Confusion often arises from poorly drafted specifications and inadequate contract documentation, leading to delays or errors in ordering of materials, and further wastage on site (Ling and Lim, 2002) Gap of knowledge While many studies on waste management and minimization strategies had been done by researchers in many countries (examples are Shen and Tam, 2002; Poon et al., 2004 in Hong Kong, Serpell and Alarcon, 1998 in Chile and Bossink and Brouwers, 1996 in the Netherlands), the extent to which waste management is practiced and the barriers to implementing waste management in Vietnam have hitherto not been studied Vietnam deserves a special study for the reasons stated in the Introduction section Moreover, its labourers have low level of education and lack construction skills, and its construction industry has low technological penetration (Nguyen et al., 2004a) These make the waste management systems developed in other countries not completely relevant to Vietnam Several construction-related research on Vietnam had been conducted Ling et al (2009) studied the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of Vietnam’s construction and consultancy firms and pointed out that one of the weaknesses is the lack of project management ability Nguyen et al (2004a) investigated problems faced by large construction firms in Vietnam Nguyen et al (2004b) studied the project success factors in large construction projects in Vietnam All these did not delve into waste management This study thus aimed to fill the knowledge gap by conducting an in-depth study on the extent to which waste management is practised and recommending specific strategies that would lead to better waste performance in particular and environmentally sustainable development of Vietnam in general Construction waste management 143 BEPAM 3,1 Downloaded by Taylor's University SDN BHD At 02:34 21 June 2015 (PT) 144 Research method Based on the literature review, a survey questionnaire was designed The purpose of the survey was to identify the performance standard of waste management on construction sites, barriers to implementing waste management, and extent to which good waste management practices are adopted on construction sites in Vietnam The structured questionnaire had four main sections The first section required respondents to provide information on one specific construction project that their firms had completed in Vietnam They were also asked to evaluate the project’s waste management performance level in six areas (see Table III, Y1-Y6) A seven-point Likert scale was used, and the anchors for the scale are shown in Table III (column 2) The second section asked respondents to rate the extent to which the project adopted the 32 waste management practices operationalized from the literature review (see Table V, S1-S32) The rating was based on a seven-point Likert scale, where ¼ not adopted; ¼ adopted 50 per cent of the time; and ¼ adopted nearly all the time The third section requested respondents to rate on a seven-point Likert scale the extent to which 17 factors (D1-D17, Table IV) are barriers to waste management, where ¼ totally disagree; ¼ neutral; and ¼ totally agree The final section requested respondents to provide some general information on themselves and their firms The questionnaire was then translated into Vietnamese A pilot survey was carried out by testing the questionnaire with three Vietnamese project managers This also allowed the experts to share local priorities and issues relating to waste management, so that ideas that are missed out could be incorporated into the questionnaire before the industry wide survey was conducted The population frame consisted of Ministry of Construction’s licensed general building contractors The sampling frame comprised firms that operate in HCMC and 60 stated-own contractors and private local contractors were randomly selected The data collection method was self-administrated postal survey The survey package comprised a structured questionnaire, a self-addressed and stamped envelope and an introductory letter to explain the objectives of the research, and inviting participation Postal survey was adopted as it reduces biasing error because there is no face-to-face interaction between respondents and researchers Also, anonymity could be achieved The respondents also have more time to think before they answer To overcome the problem of low response rate, follow-ups were made through telephone calls and e-mails to remind respondents to complete the survey After the data were analysed, three face-to-face interviews with experts were conducted to substantiate the findings and triangulate the results Two experts worked for contractors as construction managers, and one expert was a contractor’s site architect Their construction experience ranged from 11 to 28 years, and they were not involved in the pilot study or questionnaire survey stage Data analysis Data were analysed using the SPSS software t-test of the mean was conducted to ascertain: the waste performance standards (test 1, m ¼ 4); significant barriers to implementing waste management (test 2, m ¼ 4); and waste management practices that are not significantly adopted (test 3, m ¼ 5) Tests and had test value m ¼ as this is the centre of a seven-point scale For test 3, on a senven-point scale, “4” is when the practice is adopted 50 per cent of the time, while would be more than half the time m is set at because good waste management practices need to be adopted more often, and not just randomly about half of the time The null hypothesis is that the measure is Downloaded by Taylor's University SDN BHD At 02:34 21 June 2015 (PT) practised to a large extent, and the alternative hypothesis is that the measure is not significantly adopted When po0.05, and the t-value is negative, the null hypothesis is rejected and the alternative hypothesis is accepted It is then concluded that the waste management measure is not adopted to a significant extent Characteristics of the sample From the 60 packages sent out, 36 questionnaires were returned, giving a response rate of 60 per cent The characteristics of respondents and their firms, and the projects that they reported on are summarized in Tables I and II, respectively Table I shows that the majority of the respondents are middle management The average years of experience is 14.9 years On the average, respondents’ firms had 210 employees Their firms’ average revenue was VND 82.5 billion (US$1EVND 21,000) per annum All were contractors undertaking general building works Some of them also undertake renovation works All the 36 respondents were personally involved in the projects that they reported on, and their firms were main contractors in these projects This suggests that the information they provide about the projects may be accurate The main types of projects they reported are building projects, with a concentration on residential and commercial buildings (see Table II) Most of the projects are privately owned The average floor area and contract value were 10,468 m2 and VND 50 billion, respectively, suggesting medium-sized projects The proportion of work subcontracted ranged from to 100 per cent, with an average of 24 per cent Construction waste management 145 Results Performance standard in waste management Table III shows that projects in Vietnam had poor waste management performance in all the measures, as indicated by the mean values that are lower than (on a seven-point Classification Designation Upper management Middle management Professionals Experience in construction industry Up to 10 years 11-20 years More than 20 years Size of workforce Up to 20 21-100 101-250 251-500 4500 Annual revenue (VND billion) Up to 10 11-100 101-250 251-500 Frequency % 22 6.6 73.3 20.1 17 11 22.2 47.2 30.6 11 14 2.8 30.6 38.9 22.2 5.6 15 46.9 25.0 18.8 9.3 Note: When na36, it is because some respondents did not provide the data Table I Characteristics of respondents and their firms BEPAM 3,1 Downloaded by Taylor's University SDN BHD At 02:34 21 June 2015 (PT) 146 Table II Characteristics of projects reported Description Location HCMC Dong Nai Binh Duong Others Floor area (m2) Up to 1,000 1,001-10,000 10,001-50,000 More than 50,000 Contract sum (VND billion) Up to 10 11-50 51-100 4100 Billion Type of facility Residential Commercial Road-bridge Others (factory, school, hospital and hotel) Ownership of facility Public sector Privately owned Public – private joint venture Proportion of works subcontracted Up to 10% 11-20% 21-30% 31-50% 450% Frequency % 27 75 8.3 5.6 11.1 11 15 30.6 41.7 25 2.7 13 6 24.2 39.4 18.2 18.2 14 10 38.9 27.8 13.9 19.4 22 25.0 61.1 13.9 12 10 33.3 27.8 19.4 13.9 5.6 scale) Of these, four measures had significantly (po0.05) poor performance (Y1, Y2, Y4 and Y6) Quantity of materials used (Y1) and quantity of waste generated from the projects (Y2) were significantly high With the higher level of waste generated, some of these materials were reused or recycled (Y3), though not to a significant extent The quality of the reused/recycled material (Y4) was significantly low, indicating inadequate planning and treatment of waste materials Overall, the firms assessed that their level of success in managing waste (Y6) was significantly below expectation Objective of this study was to investigate the performance standard in waste management in Vietnam The findings in Table III show that waste management is of a low standard, with significantly more materials used than necessary, significantly more waste generated, and the waste cannot be reused/ recycled because of its significantly low quality The results indicate that the construction practices in Vietnam are not sustainable, and suggest that there is potential scope for minimizing waste and improving the effectiveness of waste management in Vietnam Downloaded by Taylor's University SDN BHD At 02:34 21 June 2015 (PT) Code Performance measure and scale Y1 Quantity of materials used in this project (actual vs plan), scale: ¼ higher by 45%; ¼ higher by 1-5%; ¼ higher by o1%; ¼ same as plan; ¼ lower by o1%; ¼ lower by 1-5%; ¼ lower by 45% Quantity of waste generated by this project (actual vs plan), scale: same as Y1 Quantity of materials/waste that were reused/recycled (actual vs maximum reusable quantity), Scale: ¼ not at all; ¼ half of maximum quantity; ¼ same as maximum quantity Quality performance of reused/recycled materials/waste generated by this project site (actual vs standard), scale: ¼ much lower; ¼ standard met; ¼ much higher Does the level of waste generation cause any difficulties/ problems for your firm? (actual vs expectation), scale: ¼ exceeded expectation; ¼ same as expectation; ¼ lower than expectation Level of success of firm’s waste management strategies (actual vs expectation), scale: ¼ totally unsatisfied; ¼ expectations met; ¼ exceeded expectations Y2 Y3 Y4 Y5 Y6 Mean SD t-value Significance (one-tail) 3.06 1.286 À4.406 0.000 3.39 0.838 À4.378 0.000 3.77 1.657 À0.710 0.242 3.15 1.120 À3.851 0.000 3.67 1.219 À1.641 0.055 2.97 0.910 À6.778 0.000 Construction waste management 147 Table III Waste management performance standards BEPAM 3,1 Downloaded by Taylor's University SDN BHD At 02:34 21 June 2015 (PT) 148 Barriers to implementing waste management Objective was to identify the barriers to implementing waste management in Vietnam Table IV shows that the significant barriers (test 2: mean44, t-value positive, po0.05) are D1, D2, D5-D7, D13 and D16 The findings suggest that significant barriers to implementing waste management permeate project organizations and construction sites At the client level, there is apathy as clients not expect waste management to be done, and care more about the progress of the works than waste management This is because most clients are primarily concerned with costs rather than waste management to reduce environmental impact (Wong and Yip, 2004) At the site level, project team members, workers and subcontractors not really care and are not always aware that what they are doing leads to waste generation The findings agree with Teo and Loosemore (2001) who found that waste management is perceived as a low project priority amongst construction workers and project team members This is a cause for concern because the persons creating the problem not know that they are part of the problem Outside of the project, the government’s inaction to enforce laws on waste management serves as a barrier to waste management Waste management strategies ignored Objective of this study was to investigate the extent to which waste management strategies are adopted by Vietnamese contractors Table V shows that many good waste management practices are not significantly (test 3: meano5, t-value negative, po0.05) practised in Vietnam Among the seven desirable waste management practices relating to training and supervision (S1-S7 in Table V), four are not adopted to a significant extent (S1, S4, S6 and S7) The lack of training and supervision in waste management suggests the absence of effort to change workers’ attitude In this in-depth interview, the first construction manager confirmed this and went on to emphasize that training is very important as a large proportion of construction workers in Vietnam are unskilled and/ or seasonal workers Poor attitude must be changed so that the project may gain the maximum benefit from waste management practices (Kulatunga et al., 2006) Under the category of management of subcontractors and workforce (S8-S15), two practices are not adopted to a significant extent (S9 and S10) Enforcing waste management requirements in the contract or inserting penalty clauses into the contracts can help make subcontractors pay attention to waste management on site (Dainty and Brooke, 2004) Reward schemes can be used to motivate construction workers to increase their participation in waste reduction schemes (Chen et al., 2002) In the in-depth interview, the first construction manager shared that incentives and penalties are not implemented despite their important roles in waste management He opined that positive incentives are better than punitive actions Notwithstanding this, as waste management and minimization are not popular in Vietnam, penalties are still needed to force workers to pay attention to this matter He said that it would be better to incorporate both reward and penalty into a single appraisal system so that it is more balanced In the long run, efficient usage of materials should come from workers’ awareness and willingness, instead of external rewards/punishments Among the eight desirable practices offered under the material handling and control (S16-S23) category, two practices are not significantly adopted (S18 and S23) The findings agree with Faniran (1998) who identified leftover material scraps as one of the most significant sources of construction waste Downloaded by Taylor's University SDN BHD At 02:34 21 June 2015 (PT) Code D1 D2 D3 D4 D5 D6 D7 D8 D9 D10 D11 D12 D13 D14 D15 D16 D17 Possible barriers Waste management not widely implemented by subcontractors Project participants were not always aware that their work practices lead to waste generation Project players were unwilling to implement waste management Over-reliance on subcontractors to implement waste management strategies Client not expecting waste management to be done Client care more about the progress of the construction work than waste management Lack of time to implement waste management in the project Lack of knowledge and expertise to implement waste management strategies Lack of money to implement waste management in the project Ineffective cooperation among project players in implementing waste management Low quality of project documents (e.g over-specification, under-detailing, insufficient required information, etc.) Use of large number of unskilled labour on the project Wasteful practice of workers and subcontractors on the construction site Inability to measure construction waste No/insufficient national standard or benchmarks to monitor the company’s waste generation and waste minimization progress No/insufficient enforcement of laws and regulations on waste management Lack of incentives and appraisals of effective waste minimization Mean t-value Significance (one-tail) 5.19 5.08 5.155 4.082 0.000 0.000 3.72 3.75 4.36 4.69 À0.943 À0.723 2.188 3.247 0.176 0.237 0.018 0.001 4.44 4.00 3.06 3.50 2.129 0.000 À2.919 À2.049 0.020 0.500 0.003 0.024 2.89 À4.078 0.000 3.58 4.44 3.67 4.06 À1.274 2.212 À1.080 0.161 0.106 0.017 0.144 0.436 4.50 3.75 2.106 À0.743 0.021 0.231 Note: Rating is on seven-point scale, where ¼ totally disagree and ¼ totally agree Construction waste management 149 Table IV Barriers to implementing waste minimization Downloaded by Taylor's University SDN BHD At 02:34 21 June 2015 (PT) S8 S9 S10 S11 S12 S13 S14 S15 S16 S17 S18 S19 S20 S21 S22 S23 S24 S25 S26 Practices Training and supervision Organize training sessions for subcontractors/workers to improve quality of workmanship Organize training sessions for subcontractors/workers and other site personnel on waste management Supervise and inspect subcontractors’ work Organize campaigns/training to correct bad working habits that give rise to wastage Conduct audits on site to check level of material usage and workmanship quality Ensure proper sequencing/workmanship to reduce the likelihood of rework/damage to completed works Protect completed works from damages by subsequent trades Management of subcontractors and workforce Specify to subcontractors/workers the level of wastage allowable Set goal for waste minimization Enforce waste management rules on subcontractors/workers Reward subcontractors/workers for minimizing wastage of materials Penalize subcontractors/workers for over-usage of materials Require subcontractors to be responsible for their waste generation Require subcontractors/workers to separate construction and demolition waste for reuse and recycle Ensure that demolition is done in a way that attain maximum recovery/reuse/recycle of available materials Material handling and control Require subcontractors/workers to use proper handling procedure to minimize damage/loss to materials during handling Require subcontractors/workers to collect and return excess materials Prepare proper and suitable place for materials storage Check quality of materials when they arrive on site Check quantity of materials when they arrive on site Track suppliers to ensure timely delivery of materials Adopt policy to allow contractor to return excess materials to suppliers Avoid ordering excess materials as spare to allow for wastage and damaged/lost material Procurement Select/engage subcontractors based on their waste management ability Select/engage subcontractors based on their skills level and workmanship quality Select/engage subcontractors based on their low price/offer BEPAM 3,1 S1 S2 S3 S4 S5 S6 S7 150 Table V Strategies for waste minimization Code Mean t-value Significance (one-tail) 4.25 4.69 5.00 4.11 4.92 2.67 3.50 À2.507 À0.869 0.000 À3.228 À0.342 À8.731 À5.708 0.008 0.195 0.500 0.001 0.367 0.000 0.000 4.92 3.69 4.39 4.81 5.03 5.61 4.36 5.25 À0.286 À7.361 À1.745 À0.560 0.076 1.944 À1.571 0.664 0.388 0.000 0.045 0.289 0.470 0.030 0.063 0.256 4.75 À0.738 0.233 4.47 2.75 4.67 5.36 5.78 4.42 4.00 À1.408 À9.238 À0.979 1.114 2.606 À1.447 À3.873 0.084 0.000 0.167 0.136 0.007 0.078 0.000 3.03 5.81 4.36 À5.552 3.766 À1.957 0.000 0.000 0.029 (continued) Downloaded by Taylor's University SDN BHD At 02:34 21 June 2015 (PT) Code S27 S28 S29 S30 S31 S32 Practices Communication and documentation Ensure documents provided to subcontractors, suppliers and workers are adequate, accurate and of high quality Ensure cooperation and effective communication among site personnel Obtain feedback from subcontractors/workers on waste minimization Integrate and coordinate project team members Document the major expected waste types of the project/barriers to waste management in order to take steps to prevent/minimize them Develop waste minimization manual Mean t-value Significance (one-tail) 2.86 À6.810 0.000 4.75 4.14 5.08 3.86 À0.764 À2.356 0.284 À5.590 0.225 0.012 0.389 0.000 3.75 À5.693 0.000 Notes: Rating is on seven-point scale, where ¼ not adopted; ¼ adopted about 50 per cent of the time; ¼ adopted nearly all the time Construction waste management 151 Table V BEPAM 3,1 Downloaded by Taylor's University SDN BHD At 02:34 21 June 2015 (PT) 152 Among the procurement practices (S24-S26), subcontractors are not always selected based on their waste management ability (S24) This agrees with Ling and Lim (2002) who found that often, in the selection of subcontractors, criterion relating to waste performance in past projects is ignored The second construction manager who was interviewed shared that in Vietnam it is not feasible to select subcontractors based on their skills alone, or waste management ability alone The architect who was interviewed stated that some subcontractors and suppliers are selected because they have special relationships with the buyer, and objective selection criteria were not followed He felt that selection based on cronyism should be abolished, but this would require much effort and commitment from the top management Among the communication and documentation practices (S27-S32), four are not significantly adopted (S27, S29, S31 and S32) Kulatunga et al (2006) had also found that inadequate communication of strategies from the top level to the bottom level of the organization, and a lack of data flow, negatively affect waste management application Discussion and recommendations Based on the significant barriers (Table IV) and those useful waste management practices that are largely ignored in Vietnam (Table V), some recommendations on waste management that are unique to Vietnam are offered Strategies relating to training and supervision Table IV shows that one of the difficulties affecting the implementation of waste management is that consultants, main contractors and subcontractors’ personnel and workers are not always aware that their work practices lead to waste generation (D2) As Table IV identified wasteful practice of workers and subcontractors on the construction site as a barrier to waste management (D13), providing training on waste management to them would help to save material and waste disposal cost Training on ways to carry out the work properly and/or improve workmanship quality (S1, S6), and correcting work habits that give rise to wastage should also be done The learning outcome is to ensure that workers the work the right first time, and thereby would not need to use more materials in reworks and rectifications, and zero-waste is generated In terms of supervision, besides the usual inspections and audits, there is a need to ensure that completed works are protected from damage by subsequent trades (S7) Strategies relating to management of subcontractors and workforce The results in Table V show that many of the practices in managing subcontractors and workers have already been carried out in Vietnam Specifying the waste level allowable (S8), making subcontractors responsible for their waste generation (S13), requiring them to separate waste for reuse and recycle (S14) and ensuring that demolition is carried out in a way to attain maximum recovery of materials (S15) should continue to be practised The practice of rewarding and punishing subcontractors and workers who minimize wastage (S11) and over-use materials (S12), respectively, should be continued Special motivational and reward programmes such as performance-dependent monetary reward system have been reported to be effective (McDonald and Smithers, 1998) Table V shows that the first step in waste management i.e setting goals for waste minimization (S9), is missing Besides merely specifying the level of wastage allowable (S8), there is a need to also specify the percentage of waste materials that should be reused or recycled Site personnel could then work towards these goals Downloaded by Taylor's University SDN BHD At 02:34 21 June 2015 (PT) Table IV shows that one of the significant barriers to implementing waste management is insufficient enforcement of laws and regulations on waste management (D16) As Vietnamese workers are not aware of the benefits of waste management, they may not practice waste management voluntarily unless it affects their job security and benefits negatively It is suggested that attention be paid to enforcing rules on subcontractors and workers Strategies relating to material handling and control Good material handling policies should continue to be adopted by project managers Examples of these are S16, S17, S19-S22 listed in Table V These practices are important because up to 10 per cent by weight of construction materials leave the site as waste (Bossink and Brouwers, 1996) It is recommended that suitable places for storage of materials (S18) be set aside, as this would ensure that materials are not exposed to the weather and their quality does not deteriorate Proper storage ensures that materials are not wasted due to pilferage or because they are misplaced Strategies relating to procurement Table IV shows that one of the barriers to implementing waste management is that it is not widely implemented by subcontractors (D1) Besides skills and workmanship quality, it is recommended that selection of subcontractors be based also on their waste management ability (S24) This is because a large portion of construction works are undertaken by subcontractors, and those who have waste management ability would require less strict supervision Strategies relating to communication and documentation Table IV shows that the difficulties in the implementation of waste management are that clients are not expecting waste management to be done (D5) but instead care more about the progress of work (D6) Moreover, there is a perception that more time is needed to implement waste management in the project (D7) It is recommended that clients be educated on the importance of waste management, as their buy-in would have a ripple effect on the supply chain Lingard et al (2004) pointed out that employees’ participation could only be effective if there is genuine support from the top management Among the communication practices to manage waste, Vietnamese contractors only significantly practice cooperation among site personnel (S28) and integration and coordination of team members (S30) It is recommended that they adopt other communication practices such as providing all relevant parties with good quality documents (S27) and getting feedback from workers on waste minimization (S29) Lingard et al (2001) found that adopting feedback mechanism with subcontractors is useful in reducing construction wastage on site It is also recommended that waste minimization manuals (S32) be developed The manuals could include steps to reduce, reuse, recover, recycle and dispose waste The manual should also document the waste types that are expected, and steps that could be taken to prevent or minimize waste (S31) Shen et al.’s (2004) waste management mapping model, which incorporates good operations on waste handling may be used as a basis for developing the manual Limitations One limitation is the degree to which the findings may be generalizable As the survey was conducted on contractors in HCMC, the finding may not be representative of the Construction waste management 153 BEPAM 3,1 Downloaded by Taylor's University SDN BHD At 02:34 21 June 2015 (PT) 154 whole Vietnam Future studies could be conducted on contractors operating in different parts of Vietnam The relatively small sample size is another limitation However, robust statistical analysis could still be performed because in accordance with the generally accepted rule, central limit theorem holds true when the sample size is no less than 30 (Ott and Longnecker, 2001) Another limitation is that data were provided based on respondents’ perceptions rather than factual records There is also a lack of knowledge in the field of waste management in Vietnam’s construction industry This limitation is not expected to nullify the findings because the respondents were experienced professionals and in-depth interviews were conducted with experts to validate the statistical results Conclusion It was found that projects in Vietnam fall short in all the six waste performance measures (Table III) In particular, performance was significantly poor because excessive materials were used (Y1), excessive waste was generated (Y2) and materials for reusing and recycling were of poor quality (Y4) In addition, the level of success in implementing waste management strategies was significantly low (Y6) In terms of barriers to implementing waste management, it was found that there is general apathy about waste minimization throughout the value chain, from clients who not expect waste management to be done, to subcontractors not implementing waste management, to workers who adopt wasteful practices on construction sites, to project managers who felt that they lack time to implement waste management (Table IV) Many waste management practices which have been found to be effective in previous studies were not significantly adopted in Vietnam (Table V) These include lack of training on zero-waste work procedures, failure to set goals for and enforce rules on waste minimization, ordering excess materials than what is required for the job, and not storing materials properly At the procurement stage, subcontractors were not selected based on their waste management ability There was also a lack of effective communication of project information Feedback on waste minimization was not solicited from subcontractors and workers The implication of the finding is that there is urgency to implement waste management in construction projects in Vietnam Recommendations, unique to Vietnam, were offered These take into consideration the significant barriers and important practices that are currently ignored The main recommendations are: organizing training sessions on how to execute work correctly to achieve high quality output and zero waste; setting goals and enforcing rules for waste minimization; and employing subcontractors who have waste management ability It is also recommended that documents used for executing the work must be accurate and of high quality Feedback should constantly be sought from workers and subcontractors on ways to minimize waste, so that they take pride in waste management The theoretical implication of the results is that while developed countries’ construction industries may already have good waste management practices in place, developing countries like Vietnam still lag behind in waste management This study uncovered useful waste management practices that are not adopted significantly in construction projects in Vietnam By considering the barriers unique to Vietnam, recommendations are provided Downloaded by Taylor's University SDN BHD At 02:34 21 June 2015 (PT) References Bossink, B.A.G and Brouwers, H.J.H (1996), “Construction waste: quantification and source evaluation”, Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, Vol 122 No 1, pp 55-65 Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) (2012), The Online World Factbook – Vietnam, CIA, Washington, DC, available at: www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/ vm.html (accessed 10 August 2012) Chen, Z., Li, H and Wong, T.C.C (2002), “An application of bar-code system for reducing construction wastes”, Automation in Construction, Vol 11 No 5, pp 521-533 Dainty, A.R.J and Brooke, R.J (2004), “Towards improved construction waste minimisation: a need for improved supply chain integration?”, Structural Survey, Vol 22 No 1, pp 20-29 Ekanayake, L.L and Ofori, G (2004), “Building waste assessment score: design-based tool”, Building and Environment, Vol 39 No 7, pp 851-861 El-Haggar, S.M (2007), Sustainable Industrial Design and Waste Management, Elsevier/ Academic Press, Amsterdam and Boston, MA Faniran, O.O (1998), “Minimizing waste on construction project sites”, Engineering, Construction and Architectural Management, Vol No 2, pp 182-188 Guthrie, P and Mallet, H (1995), Waste Minimization and Recycling in Construction: A Review, CIRIA, London Kulatunga, U., Amaratunga, D and Haigh, R (2006), “Attitudes and perceptions of construction workforce on construction waste in Sri Lanka”, Management of Environmental Quality: An International Journal, Vol 17 No 1, pp 57-72 Kumaraswamy, M.M and Matthews, J.D (2000), “Improved subcontractor selection employing partnering principles”, Journal of Management in Engineering, Vol 16 No 3, pp 47-57 Ling, Y.Y and Lim, M.C.H (2002), “Implementation of a waste management plan for construction projects in Singapore”, Architectural Science Review, Vol 45 No 2, pp 73-81 Ling, Y.Y., Pham, V.M.C and Hoang, T.P (2009), “Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats for architectural, engineering, and construction firms: case study of Vietnam”, Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, Vol 135 No 10, pp 1105-1113 Lingard, H., Gilbert, G and Graham, P (2001), “Improving solid waste reduction and recycling performance using goal setting and feedback”, Construction Management and Economics, Vol 19 No 8, pp 809-818 Lingard, H., Graham, P and Smithers, G (2004), “Employee perceptions of the solid waste management system operating in a large Australian contracting organization: implications for company policy implementation”, Construction Management and Economics, Vol 18 No 4, pp 383-393 McDonald, B and Smithers, M (1998), “Implementing a waste management plan during the construction phase of a project: a case study”, Construction Management and Economics, Vol 16 No 1, pp 71-78 Nguyen, D.L., Ogunlana, S and Lan, D.T (2004b), “A study on project success factors in large construction projects in Vietnam”, Engineering Construction and Architectural Management, Vol 11 No 6, pp 404-413 Nguyen, D.L., Ogunlana, S.O., Quang, T and Lam, K.C (2004a), “Large construction projects in developing countries: a case study from Vietnam”, International Journal of Project Management, Vol 22 No 7, pp 553-561 Ofori, G and Debrah, Y.A (1998), “Flexible management of worker: review of employment and practices in the construction industry in Singapore”, Construction Management and Economics, Vol 16 No 4, pp 397-408 Construction waste management 155 BEPAM 3,1 Downloaded by Taylor's University SDN BHD At 02:34 21 June 2015 (PT) 156 Ott, R and Longnecker, M (2001), An Introduction to Statistical Methods and Data Analysis, Duxbury, Pacific Grove, CA Poon, C.S., Yu, A.T.W and Jaillon, L (2004), “Reducing building waste at construction sites in Hong Kong”, Construction Management and Economics, Vol 22 No 4, pp 461-470 Serpell, A and Alarcon, L.F (1998), “Construction process improvement methodology for construction projects”, International Journal of Project Management, Vol 16 No 4, pp 215-221 Shen, L.Y and Tam, V.W.Y (2002), “Implementation of environmental management in the Hong Kong construction industry”, International Journal of Project Management, Vol 20 No 7, pp 535-543 Shen, L.Y., Tam, V.W.Y., Tam, C.M and Drew, D (2004), “Mapping approach for examining waste management on construction sites”, Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, Vol 130 No 4, pp 472-482 Teo, M.M.M and Loosemore, M (2001), “A theory of waste behaviour in the construction industry”, Construction Management and Economics, Vol 19 No 7, pp 741-751 Wong, E.O.W and Yip, R.C.P (2004), “Promoting sustainable construction waste management in Hong Kong”, Construction Management and Economics, Vol 22 No 6, pp 563-566 Further reading Plessis, C.D (2007), “A strategic framework for sustainable construction in developing countries”, Construction Management and Economics, Vol 25 No 1, pp 67-76 Rounce, G (1998), “Quality, waste and cost considerations in architectural building design management”, International Journal of Project Management, Vol 16 No 2, pp 123-127 About the authors Florence Yean Yng Ling is an Associate Professor in the Department of Building, National University of Singapore, a Fellow of the Singapore Institute of Surveyors and Valuers and a member of the Royal Chartered Institution of Chartered Surveyors She teaches project cost management Her research interests include improving project performance and international construction Florence Yean Yng Ling is the corresponding author and can be contacted at: bdglyy@nus.edu.sg Dinh Song Anh Nguyen holds a BSc (Project and Facilities Management) degree from the National University of Singapore She is a practising quantity surveyor To purchase reprints of this article please e-mail: reprints@emeraldinsight.com Or visit our web site for further details: www.emeraldinsight.com/reprints ... text archive of this journal is available at www.emeraldinsight.com/2044-124X.htm Strategies for construction waste management in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam Florence Yean Yng Ling Construction waste. .. cent Construction waste management 145 Results Performance standard in waste management Table III shows that projects in Vietnam had poor waste management performance in all the measures, as indicated... in which waste management is found wanting, and suggested ways for Vietnam to improve Keywords Construction waste, Material wastage, Waste management, Vietnam, Barriers, Waste minimization, Waste