The effects of data collection method and monitoring of workers’ behavior on the generation of demolition waste

The roles of both the data collection method (including proper classification) and the behavior of workers on the generation of demolition waste (DW) are important. By analyzing the effect of the data collection method used to estimate DW, and by investigating how workers’ behavior can affect the total amount of DW generated during an actual demolition process, it was possible to identify strategies that could improve the prediction of DW. Therefore, this study surveyed demolition waste generation rates (DWGRs) for different types of building by conducting on-site surveys immediately before demolition in order to collect adequate and reliable data. In addition, the effects of DW management strategies and of monitoring the behavior of workers on the actual generation of DW were analyzed. The results showed that when monitoring was implemented, the estimates of DW obtained from the DWGRs that were surveyed immediately before demolition and the actual quantities of DW reported by the demolition contractors had an error rate of 0.63% when the results were compared. Therefore, this study has shown that the proper data collection method (i.e., data were collected immediately before demolition) applied in this paper and monitoring on the demolition site have a significant impact on waste generation.