Building demolition waste management through smart BIM: A case study in Hong Kong

Abstract

Hong Kong’s construction industry, known for its massive building infrastructure, produces an enormous amount of waste every year, the vast majority of which is disposed for landfills. Therefore, some effective operational measures and waste management policies have been implemented. However, enormous waste remains a concern for stakeholders and exert pressure on the limited capacity of Hong Kong’s landfills. Though previous research discusses Building Information Modelling (BIM) application for construction waste management enhancement, the BIM model has not been widely implemented for building demolition with waste management. Hence, as a response to the aforementioned shortcomings, this paper develops a conceptual framework that allows collecting, maintaining, and analyzing comprehensive information through Smart BIM that uses advanced technologies such as Internet of Things (IoT) and capable of reacting to user activities such as waste quantitative assessment, demolition process planning, optimal disposal route selection, and waste management strategy are executed. The advantages of the proposed framework are shown in a case study benefit-cost analysis based on three planned reuse and recycling-rate scenarios that explain on- and off-site recycling methods. The results show that the proposed framework will pave the way for generating sustainable waste disposal practices by providing technical and decision-making support functionalities to engineers and planners in the construction industry.