Title

Waste management through recycling in demolition and deconstruction

projects in developing countries – special case of Iraq.

Keywords

Waste management, demolition, deconstruction, green products, materials,

recycling.

Problem statement (elaborating problem statement, describing

theoretical and practical of research problem and research gap,

variables definition relating to research question and context)

End of life projects, wars, conflicts and general building

deconstruction produce a great amount of waste in materials that would

prove to be useful if managed properly or to pose problems and issues if

left unhandled.

War inflected countries and regions have to deal with the huge

issues of deconstructing severely damaged structures and subsequently

dealing with the products of deconstruction. The Iraqi central bureau of

statistics indicated that Mosul city alone accumulated more than 10 million

tons of construction waste following the recent ISIS conflict. A huge

problem and a huge environmental hazard if left unhandled but great

potential if managed properly through reusing and repurposing in later

construction projects.

Multiple research articles are available worldwide on the reuse of

deconstruction waste in post war regions, each focusing on a case study in

a certain region as the size of deconstruction, type of construction,

available resources and obstacles faced while obtaining and managing

deconstruction waste would render efforts for the management of

deconstruction waste very different from one region to the other.

This research will focus on the management of deconstruction

waste products and on the methods that can be used to survey, explore and

commence deconstruction practices along with potential recycling and

reuse of such products in subsequent construction projects, further focus

will be put on viewing the environmental and economic benefits of these

waste management efforts with a case study of the Iraqi situation after the

recent ISIS conflict.

Literature review will provide a better look at the current state of

deconstruction waste management and the efforts that are spent on this

matter in different regions and cities mainly in the Arabic world and will

form a frame of reference for the formulation of this research project.

Background (A brief literature review about the subjects and results

scientifically obtained in various places regarding research content

Governments around the world are racing to regulate and formulate

legislations for the recycling and reuse of construction waste materials

given that the construction industry is responsible for approximately 50%

of the global solid waste. The use of BIM and 3D modeling can be of great

assistance to engineers and practitioners not only in the erection of

buildings but also in deconstruction practices as a tool for the identification

and measurement of recyclable materials and for the analysis and

sequencing of deconstruction practices (Ge et al., 2017).

The reuse of construction waste materials is considered to be the

best end of life solution for structures that reach their end of life. This is

based on the environmental benefits that this alternative would pose as

opposed to disposing of these materials in landfills (Elgizawy et al., 2016).

The main benefits associated with deconstruction are categorized by

Rios et al. (2015) into environmental benefits, social benefits, economic

benefits and other benefits such as the reuse of other architectural elements

and attributed credits on green building rating systems.

The main problem that is attributed with this practice is the

associated costs and complex procedures linked to the dismantling and

reuse of construction materials (Queheille et al., 2022).

 Despite the associated costs linked to reuse and recycling practices,

techniques and methodologies of recycling and reuse provide an overall

economic benefit, especially in the case of war inflicted zones where

deconstruction is at a large scale. Such is the case after the recent conflict

in Syria where recycling and rehabilitation of deconstruction waste

materials is suggested to save about 17$ billion compared to disposing of

waste in landfills and the use of new construction materials in rehabilitation

projects (Awad et al., 2016).

Ali and Ezeah (2017) examined the construction waste management

practices following the Libyan conflict that produced more than 82 million

tons of construction waste. The researchers executed a survey to understand

the main barriers that are faced when attempting to manage post conflict

construction waste in Libya. The main barrier that inhibits the application

of proper waste management towards deconstruction waste materials is the

problem of the absence of legislation or legal standards that regulate the

practice. The main issue facing the reuse and recycling of construction

waste materials is the waste transfer followed by the inability to accurately

estimate the value of recycled materials. Most incentives and initiatives

provide a guarantee of the economic benefits of reuse and recycling of

construction waste materials while environmental and aesthetic aspects are

generally the main rationale for most recycling and reuse projects.
 Gaza strip in Palestine is considered to be one of the most conflict

prone areas of the world and so innovation in the recycling and reuse of

materials that are produced by the deconstruction of buildings and

structures is crucial in this area, a research examining the status of

recycling and reuse practices in Gaza concluded that post-conflict

demolition practices in Gaza are generally similar to disaster waste

management in waste removal and cleaning and similar to construction and

demolition waste management practices in the sorting, crushing and sieving

of produced waste materials (AbuHamed et al., 2022).

Research hypothesis and questions

1. What are deconstruction waste materials?

2. How can deconstruction waste materials be disposed of or reused?

3. What are modern trends in the management of deconstruction waste

materials?

4. How do Iraqi engineers and practitioners perform management of

deconstruction waste?

Aim of studies (scientific and practical objectives and explain the

necessity of research)

1. To accumulate an understanding of the waste management practices

in the deconstruction waste field.

 2. To accumulate an understanding of the main obstacles that are face

by engineers and managers in deconstruction waste management.

3. To view the latest trends and methods in deconstruction and

materials extraction and the latest trends in waste management.

4. To create a deconstruction waste management framework based on

the Iraqi experience in this field.

If the research has practical use, please mention which industry,

organization etc. will benefit from it?

As the research is directly linked to an issue that is currently faced

by Iraqi officials. The results of this research will be of good use to

engineers, managers, contractors and officials that are responsible for such

projects in Iraq.

Innovation aspect of research

As Iraq has been in multiple wars for the past 30 some years, the

amounts of deconstruction waste are huge and this type of waste is a real

problem that Iraqi officials have to deal with. Despite that, no

governmental or official procedure exists in the management of

deconstruction waste management and the studies that focus on this issue

are scarce.
 This research will attempt at providing a base of reference for

efforts and projects that deal with the management of deconstruction waste

in Iraq.

Methodology of research

A- Research method type

The research will follow both qualitative and quantitative research

practices where qualitative research will take the form of literature review

to better understand the latest trends and efforts in the management of the

wastes that are linked to deconstruction practices and the quantitative

research approach will be formed of an analysis of a survey results to

understand the Iraqi experience in this field.

B- Data collection procedure (fields, laboratory, library)

Qualitative data will be collected from literature through library

visits and online search of scientific aggregators and databases and the

quantitative data will be collected via the proposed survey.

C- Data collection instruments (Questionnaire, interview,

observation, testing, sampling, tables, the laboratory equipment

and data information sources)

 Observations and interviews will be conducted with practitioners

that are practicing the management and reuse of deconstruction waste in

Iraq and a survey will be distributed for a more general understanding of

the applicability of the research findings.

The survey will comprise of two sections where the main

construction waste management methods (criteria) will be evaluated first

based on the experience of Iraqi engineers who have work experience in

the situation of case study of the project. Following this evaluation,

different actions (alternatives) will be evaluated in based on their effect in

each criteria field using close ended statements with recipients answering

based on a five point Likert scale as a base for more accurate analysis of

the results.

D- Data analysis method and statistical population

The results of the research questionnaire will be analyzed

statistically to test the applicability of management practices in dealing

with deconstruction waste management in Iraq.

This will be performed using the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP)

where actions (alternatives) will be evaluated against each other in each of

the pre-identified fields of deconstruction waste management (criteria). The

main evaluation method for scoring will be the Relative Importance Index

(RII) based on the Likert scale system proposed and the results will provide
great insight on which method is most appropriate for each of the identified

criteria, which criteria is most important in the Iraqi construction field and

which alternative is most effective overall in the Iraqi construction field.

The population for the research questionnaire will be Iraqi

engineers and practitioners with proven experience in deconstruction waste

management and waste materials reuse.

References and bibliography cited in proposal

1- Ali, A. and Ezeah, C. (2017). “Framework for Management of Post-

Conflict Waste in Libya”. European Scientific Journal vol.13, No.5.

2- Ge, XJ., Livesey, P., Wang, J., Huang, S., He, X. and Zhang, C.

(2017). “Deconstruction Waste Management through 3D

Reconstruction and BIM: A Case Study”. Visualization in

Engineering (2017) 5:13.

3- Elgizawy, SM., El-Haggar, SM and Nassar, K. (2016).

“Approaching Sustainability of Construction and Demolition Waste

using Zero Waste Concept”. Scientific Research Publishing Inc.

4- Queheille, E., Ventura, A., Saiyouri, N. and Taillandier, F. (2022).

“A Life Cycle Assessment Model of End-of-Life Scenarios for

Building Deconstruction and Waste Management”. Journal of

Cleaner Production vol. 339.

5- Awad, AA., Alkhalil, FA. And Al-Dulaimy, A. (2016). “Innovative

Rehabilitation Methodology of Recycling Buildings’ Debris in

Damaged Districts”. JEA conf.

6- AbuHamed, H., AlBursh, W., AbuMfarreh, S. and Yoshida, M.

(2022). “Managing Post-Conflict Demolition Wastes in Gaza Strip:

A Case Study on May 2021 Conflict”. Journal of Material Cycles

and Waste Management vol. 25.

7- Rios, FC., Chong, WK. and Grau, D. (2015). “Design of

Disassembly and Deconstruction – Challenges and Opportunities”.

Elsevier Ltd.