Circular economy in the construction industry: An overview of United States stakeholders’ awareness, major challenges, and enablers

Abstract

Increasing environmental concerns and resource scarcity risks have drawn attention to a Circular Economic (CE) model during the last decade. Nevertheless, literature related to the state of practice of CE in the built environment in the United States (U.S.) is still limited. In this context, this study investigates U.S. architectural, engineering, and construction (AEC) industry stakeholders’ awareness of CE. The investigation also covers major barriers for the implementation of strategies aligned to the CE model, and enabling factors for a transition from a linear economic model to a CE model in the construction industry in the U.S. A mixed-methods approach was deployed through a combination of online survey and interviews with AEC industry stakeholders from different regions of the U.S. Results revealed that some strategies are widely disseminated (i.e., open-loop recycling, selective demolition, and prefabrication), whereas others are hardly adopted (i.e., design for disassembly, design in layers, closed-loop recycling). Additionally, findings indicate budget and upfront costs, project schedule and timeline, lack of awareness and regulations, and current business models as major barriers for the implementation of strategies aligned to a CE model. Furthermore, four enabling factors for a transition to a CE model in the construction industry were identified (i.e., education and cultural change, data availability, policies and incentives, and novel voluntary stewardships). Notably, contributions of this study include fostering a much needed debate around circular construction and its challenges, and expanding the limited existing body of knowledge.