Managing construction and demolition waste using lean tools to achieve environmental sustainability: an Indian perspective

The construction industry substantially impacts a country's economic growth and ecological progress. Due to the competitive nature of the construction business and intense rivalry between construction companies, the industry's focus is progressively becoming customer-centric. Efforts are being taken to ensure high-quality buildings are built at reasonable rates and on time. Companies are trying to ensure on-time building projects are completed within allocated budgets. This can be accomplished by ensuring minimal waste generation from various activities during the construction process. Implementing lean tools and techniques can improve work efficiency and reduce waste in the building process. This research study offers a basic understanding of lean tools and emphasizes their contribution in terms of time, effort, and sustainability. The primary purpose of this study is to present the effectiveness of the lean process for construction waste management. Through a case study, this research shows the deployment of lean tools and principles for efficient construction waste management and optimal use of building resources. The improvement in reduced waste generation and enhanced organizational resource productivity is closely monitored. The study results indicated that the lean framework could reduce waste by 25 to 50%. It is demonstrated that lean construction significantly improves construction sustainability and productivity. If it is implemented along with automation tools and circular economy concepts, more than 50% of waste reduction can be achieved. These viable initiatives are necessary to improve the performance of the Indian construction industry to achieve circularity in waste management which indirectly helps in the sustainability goals of the construction sector.