C & D waste profile of the Malaysian construction industry: Need a centralized database

Abstract

The study found construction and demolition (C&D) waste comprising more or less a homogenous composition from various sources either construction or landfill sites or Klang Valley. The largest components of C&D waste are concrete, aggregate and rubbles followed by soil, wood, metals and roofing materials. In Klang Valley, 88% of the C&D waste generated is from residential buildings while 9% from commercial and 3% from government buildings resulted from increased demand of housing and commercial buildings. A majority of C&D waste dumps to the private land or illegal dumpsites while only 20% of them disposed in legal landfills. This is due to most of the legal landfills are reluctant to accept C&D waste because of their limited space. This paper attempts to document a profile of C&D waste generation and disposal into a one record to allow industry-wide dissemination though it has a limitation of facts and figures for representing the country as a whole. Therefore, there is a need for an authorized body in Malaysia to be responsible for collection, classification, analysis and storage of all types of C&D wastes and a centralized database of C&D wastes to serve a paradigm shift of good waste management practices in the construction industry.