A Systematic Review of Construction and Demolition Waste Management in Australia: Current Practices and Challenges

Construction and demolition waste (C & DW) has a deleterious impacts on sustainability not only in developing countries but also in developed nations. For example, Australia generated more than 27 million tonnes of C & DW in 2018-2019; however, only 60% of this waste stream was recovered. Considering this low recovery rate, lower than many developed nations, and with regards to the increasing rate of C & DW generation, extra attention should be given to the construction and demolition waste management (C & DWM) in Australia. Therefore, this research attempts to accurately understand the current practices and challenges of C & DWM in Australia. To do so, primarily, a systematic review of studies relevant to C & DWM from 2010 to 2021 was performed. In this step, 26 research documents were meticulously analysed to identify the current practices of C & DWM in Australia. Then, an in-depth interview with three experts were undertaken to verify the major results and to investigate the challenges of C & DWM in Australia. The results indicated that three factors significantly affect C & DWM in Australia, namely attitudes and behaviour of C & DWM stakeholders, C & DWM in project life cycles, and C & DWM regulations with regards to sustainability, adding that the latter was revealed as the most effective in C & DWM in Australia.