The effect of legislation on the contractor's attitudes on solid waste reduction

It has been a difficult task to reduce and handle solid wastes generated from construction and demolition (C&D) activities in a number of countries. In Hong Kong, the C&D soHd wastes of which many of them are suitable for recycling land reclamation were typically disposed to landfills. Regarding this, in December 2005, a main piece of legislation regarding the C&D solid waste minimization namely the Construction Waste Disposal Charging Scheme (CWDCS) was enacted in Hong Kong. Since then disposal of C&D solid waste to public landfill sites has no longer been a 'free meal' for the contractors. While the government statistics indicate that the average quantity of C&D solid waste disposed to the public landfill has been tremendously decreased, disgraceful news about the illegal disposal of C&D waste by contractors have begun to mount. Some criticized that the illegal disposal was indeed driven by the legislation. It is because the legislation itself basically cannot solve the problems encountered by the contractors i.e. an effective solid waste reduction and management. As such, a behavioral change of solid waste disposal by the contractors has yet been noted. This study uses the enactment of the CWCS as a benchmark, and seeks to investigate [I] whether the Scheme has prompted the construction contractors to adopt C&D solid wastes reduction strategies in the construction projects; and [2] the effect of the strategy applied by the contractors on C&D solid waste reduction in their projects. A questionnaire survey was conducted. The analysed results based on the Pearson correlation analysis show that the enactment of the CWCS merely led the main contractors reorient their operational practices. Collaboration among project team members in C&D solid waste reduction remains inadequate. Recommendation in response to the research findings was suggested.