Search Results (4)

Dealing with solid waste has always been a global concern, and construction waste is one of the most important parts. Addressing how to properly dispose of construction waste, reduce its negative environmental impact, and achieve effective resource recycling has emerged as an urgent problem to be solved. Technological innovation underpins efficient waste reduction, reuse, and recycling, but existing research often overlooks systematic and quantitative measurements of innovation initiatives. This study uncovers the development status and trends of construction waste recycling (CWR) technology, identifies key points and potential innovation directions for technological development, and also explores practical strategies to promote technological innovation and industrial growth. Through patent analysis, this study uncovers the current status of technological innovation within China’s CWR industry. A text mining approach is employed to analyze patent texts related to core technologies, explore topic contents, and identify topic intensities and evolution trends. A comparative analysis between China and the global dominant countries in CWR reveals China’s technological strengths and weaknesses. The results indicate that patent applications in China’s CWR industry are substantial, with a rapid growth rate, while its global competitiveness remains weak. The applicants are widely distributed, with traditional enterprises demonstrating strong innovation capabilities, while emerging and small-to-medium enterprises lack vitality. The industry has potential advantages in developing resource recycling devices and construction wastewater treatment technology, but the technological foundation in some other core technologies is weak. This study offers an overview of technological innovation initiatives in the CWR industry, representing a breakthrough in existing research. The findings will assist policymakers in formulating evidence-driven strategies to promote CWR. Full article

The construction waste recycling (CWR) industry in China is still in the primary stage. Thus, exploring the driving mechanisms of its development has significant theoretical worth and practical significance. Existing studies mainly focused on identifying individual key factors, while paying limited attention to the synergistic effects of multiple factors. The aim of this study is to systematically identify the primary drivers of China’s CWR industry from a macro perspective and explore their conjunctional effect on the development of the CWR industry in China. Firstly, based on the PEST model, the key factors driving the development of the CWR industry were identified from political, economic, social, and technological aspects. Secondly, the fuzzy-set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA) approach was used to explore the causal relationship between the conjunction of these factors and the development level of the CWR industry. This study yields two interesting conclusions. The first is that none of the political, economic, social, and technological factors is a necessary condition. It means that the absence of any single factor will not restrict the development of the CWR industry. The second reveals two causal paths for the high-level development of the CWR industry, namely, the configuration of policy and social factors and the individual effect of economic factors. High-level development in the CWR industry can drive the sustainable development of the construction sector. Full article

The classification and recycling of construction waste is important for reducing waste emissions, preventing marine pollution, and protecting the natural environment, which can promote carbon trading and carbon sink cycles. Based on the evolutionary game theory, this paper investigated the evolutionary decision-making process and stable strategies of three stakeholders in the construction waste recycling system, namely, the Department of Environment Regulation (DER), the Construction Waste Recycler (CWR), and the Construction Project Contractor (CPC), and analyzed the main factors affecting the stakeholders’ strategies, the evolutionary stable strategies and stable conditions from the perspective of public participation and carbon trading. Then, a DER-CWR-CPC benefit matrix and a replicator dynamics equation representing strategy selection were constructed, in which parameters represent the interest relationship of the three parties, and evolutionary stable strategy (ESS) points were obtained by solving the Jacobian matrix. Finally, the validity of the model was verified by taking the actual values into the simulation. The results showed that DER needs to actively participate in the early stage of the development of the construction waste classification and recycling system, but with the increase of enterprises choosing to recycle construction waste, DER can gradually reduce its intervention in these enterprises. Setting reasonable incentives and penalties, mobilizing public participation, and developing cleaner construction waste sorting equipment to obtain more carbon emission trading targets can facilitate the development of construction waste recycling systems. Full article

Prior works have suggested various strategies to increase construction waste recycling (CWR) rates. However, choosing the strategies is challenging without a lateral comparison. Therefore, this study aims to compare the usability of various strategies that target the enhancement of CWR implementation. To achieve this purpose, thirteen CWR enhancement strategies were identified from a systematic literature review. Then, questionnaire survey data were collected from 106 construction project managers. The collected data were analyzed via mean score ranking, normalization, overlap analysis, agreement analysis, and factor analysis. Additionally, the data were analyzed using a proposed formula for computing usability indexes using the cost, easiness, and effectiveness values. The results show that three strategies have high usability indexes: organize temporary bins in each construction zone, identify construction activities that produce recyclable materials, and enhance company policies related to CWR. These strategies with high usability indexes are consistent with the overlapping cheap, effective, and easy strategies. This study provides researchers and practitioners with optimal strategies for enhancing CWR implementation. Effective CWR enhancement strategies can improve CWR rates in construction projects. Future researchers can also adopt this study’s approach in computing usability indexes through questionnaire surveys. Full article