On-site sorting of construction waste in Mainland China - A survey made in Shenzhen

To manage a huge quantity of waste, the government has adopted a series of measures including enacting legislation to reduce these solid wastes. However, the construction waste arisen is usually in the form of a mixture of both inert and non-inert materials. As a result, the waste has to be disposed of at landfills, aggravating the environment pollution and landfill shortage problem. There is a paramount need to separate the Construction waste according to its constituent parts before it is delivered to the landfills for disposal. To study the feasibility of carrying out on-site waste sorting in the country, a survey was conducted in ShenZhen, China. This paper presents the results of the survey undertaken to evaluate three alternative waste sorting methods on construction-sites and to compare the results according to different qualification contractors and to different working years.