This Master thesis addresses the problematic of Construction and Demolition Waste Management in Portugal, particularly in shopping centers. The construction sector is particularly affected by the problem of waste management because of quantity, volume and diversity of types of materials that are part of their business. This sector is still one of the largest contributors to the excessive consumption of natural resources and related environmental degradation. The developer, being ware of the environmental value by society and the expectation of ethical behavior by companies towards their various stakeholders, have been follow a corporate commitment towards sustainability. Today, sustainability is a mandatory issue addressed by the companies that wish to create long-term values. The initial approach to sustainability by many companies, in the sectors of property development and construction, began with the implementation of sustainability policies and environmental management systems, health and social’s safety and responsibility, in order to ensure a better social and environmental management on their activities. However, main parties’ sustainability strategies are focused on sustainable promotion/construction buildings, emerging systems such as BREEAM in Portugal. Portugal has the largest shopping area, in commercial spaces, per inhabitant. According to the APCC (Portuguese Association of Shopping Centers), it could be possible for the entire population to fit within the current Portuguese shopping centers. Despite the unfavorable international crisis registered of last year, mainly associated to the increased energy costs and rising prices of raw materials, the creation of new shopping centers in Portugal has slowed down; however it is expected a creation of 18 new infrastructures within the coming years. Therefore, it is expected for the constructions and demolition’s waste, caused by the creation of these large commercial areas, if not to increase, at least it will be maintained. In this context, finding measures that promote a reduction in waste production and efficient ways of managing construction/demolition waste is the main goal of this study. Under the ISO 14001 implementation work, carried out by the Engexpor Company - Engineering Consultants (Specialized in Project Management and Construction Enterprises), data were collected to characterize, in terms of quantities and types, the waste produced by the construction of two commercial areas. In one of the shopping centers was implemented an Environmental Management System (EMS) according to ISO 14001; and in the other shopping center, besides this EMS, was introduced another certification known as BREEAM, which like the previous one, promotes waste reduction, recycling and reuse, in addition to many other advantages. After these systems implementation, we proceeded with an analysis to evaluate potential differences/similarities in terms of waste management, in both cases. In terms of absolute amount of waste produced per area unit, the implementation of both systems did not bring improvements. In the second case, where the two systems were implemented, the waste volume was greater than 8000 tons; and in the other case, where only the Environmental Management System was implemented, the waste production exceeded the 5000 tons. However, in the construction where Breeam certification was implemented, 24% of the waste was recovered to recycle; however, in the construction with only the ISO 14001 certification, 11% of waste was recovered, which means less than half when compared to the case where Breeam certification was implemented. In conclusion, the costs of sending waste to landfill are smaller when implementing both systems. It was verified that the implementation of voluntary systems, in efficient management of buildings construction, had advantages in several aspects, such as: trade marketing, market differentiation factor, lowering costs, potential environmental impacts reduction, among many others. Focusing only on the issue of waste management and recovery, the systems brought many benefits; however, by themselves they are not the solution to reduce the construction and demolition waste production.
| Date of Award | 25 Jan 2012 |
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| Original language | Portuguese |
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| Awarding Institution | - Universidade Católica Portuguesa
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| Supervisor | Paula M. L. Castro (Supervisor) & Sandra Moura (Co-Supervisor) |
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