HI6006 Essay: A Comprehensive Look at Strategy Development Tools

This assignment provides a comprehensive overview of construction waste management (CWM) practices, particularly focusing on a SWOT analysis conducted in Shenzhen, China. It begins by highlighting the increasing problem of construction waste in China due to rapid urbanization and inadequate waste management strategies. The study utilizes a SWOT analysis to assess the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats associated with CWM in Shenzhen, gathering data from governmental reports, regulations, literature, and focus group meetings with stakeholders. The analysis identifies key challenges and opportunities, leading to the formulation of seven critical strategies aimed at improving CWM practices in the region. These strategies are designed to maximize strengths and opportunities, transform weaknesses into strengths, and minimize potential threats, providing a framework for strategic planning and development of CWM in Shenzhen. The research underscores the importance of strategic analysis in addressing CWM issues at a regional level, offering insights for government and industry stakeholders to enhance their understanding and improve waste management practices.

A SWOT analysis of successful construction waste management
Hongping Yuan
School of Economics and Management,Southwest Jiaotong University,Jin Niu District,Chengdu,Sichuan 610031,China
a r t i c l e i n f o
Article history:
Received 27 July 2011
Received in revised form
6 August 2012
Accepted 15 August 2012
Available online 31 August 2012
Keywords:
SWOT analysis
Construction waste management
Strategy
China
a b s t r a c t
Recent years have witnessed a significant amount of construction waste as a result of rapid urbanization
and large scale of construction activities in China.However, compared to many advanced western
countries,very few studies have been carried out for investigating the construction waste management
problems in China.This study, by conducting a strength,weakness,opportunity,and threat (SWOT)
analysis,aims to help understand the status quo of construction waste managementbased on the
particular contextof Shenzhen city in south China. Data supporting the analysis are derived from
multiple channels including governmentalreports, waste management related regulations,literature
review, and focus group meetings.The study opens a window through which major stakeholders
involved can perceive the internal and external conditions of construction waste managementin
Shenzhen.The seven criticalstrategies,which are presented based on the SWOTs identified,could be
useful for Shenzhen to develop and promote its future construction waste management at the strategic
level.
Ó 2012 Elsevier Ltd.All rights reserved.
1. Introduction
Construction waste has nowadays become a grievous problem
in China due to the significant amount of construction activities on
one hand and the poor construction waste management (CWM) on
the other. While pursuing and maintaining a high speed of
economy development,infrastructure and building construction
has been playing an essential role in the Chinese arena. Particularly,
in 2008, China proposed an investment plan for coping with the
economic problems caused by the World Financial Crisis of 2008. In
line with the program, a total amount of 4000 billion CNY
(1 US$ ¼ 6.3 CNY) was launched to stimulate the development of
nationaleconomy from 2008 to 2010.In the investment,around
2500 billion CNY (accounting for 62.5%) was used for implementing
construction projects,typically including developmentof infra-
structure, railway, highway and road, airport, hydraulic engineering
projects, and post-disaster rehabilitation for Wenchuan earth-
quake. Undoubtedly, the implementation of these projects leads to
a large volume of construction waste generated throughout the
country.
Nevertheless,practices of CWM and application of low-waste
construction technologies in the Chinese construction sector are
still at a lower level compared to those of some advanced countries,
such as USA, UK and Australia (Lu and Yuan, 2010).The poor
management of construction waste in China can be attributable to
various aspects. For example, there is a lack of precise and detailed
CWM related regulations that contractorscan actually follow.
Consideration for environmentalmanagementissues including
CWM is not a priority when undertaking construction projects.
Industry stakeholders generally lack awareness about construction
waste minimization or environmental protection.Most of Chinese
construction projects do not have detailed waste management
plans at the project level.Construction waste generated on-site is
by and large poorly managed.Furthermore,the local government
does not launch long-run schemes with respect to construction
waste disposal especially for landfill planning and construction (Lu
and Yuan, 2010; Wang et al., 2011). All these problems demonstrate
a pressing appeal for the need to ameliorate current CWM practices
in order to minimize construction waste in China.
During the last decade, construction waste issues in China have
attracted significant attention from researchers,thus resulting in
a number of research outcomes published in various academic
journals.These outcomes witnessed clearly an increasing concern
about construction waste problems demonstrated by the academic
community.Nonetheless,it seems that the government and the
majority of industry stakeholders paid relatively less attention to
these problems.Meanwhile, although existing literature covers
a wide range of topics in relation to CWM,such as measures for
reducing construction waste,on-site construction waste sorting,
construction waste recycling and disposal,forecasting regional
construction waste generation through developmentof variousE-mail address: [e-mail].
Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect
Journal of Cleaner Production
j o u r n a lhomepage: w w w . e l s e v i e r . c o m / l o c a t e / j c l e p r o
0959-6526/$ e see front matter Ó 2012 Elsevier Ltd.All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2012.08.016
Journal of Cleaner Production 39 (2013) 1e8

quantitative models (Wang et al.,2011; Hao et al.,2007; Formoso
et al.,2002),there is limited research that can be used to assist in
strategically planning CWM in a given region.
Generally, strategic analysis and planning of CWM at the
regional level can contribute to CWM practices of a particular
region in three major dimensions. Firstly, it allows the government
and industry stakeholders to further their understanding of current
CWM situation in the region under study.Secondly,it enables the
identification of main problems that are faced by the construction
industry,based on which effective measures can be presented for
improvements.Finally,the analytic results can be useful informa-
tion to guide the development of CWM in the region in both the
short- and long-run.Therefore,this study aims at analyzing CWM
at the regional level in China. A SWOT (Strength, Weakness,
Opportunity and Threat) analysis approach is employed to achieve
the purpose. The analysis is based on an empirical investigation of
CWM in Shenzhen city of south China.
The remainder of the paper is organized as follows: Section 2 is
an introduction of the research methodology adopted; Section 3 is
a thorough SWOT analysis of CWM in Shenzhen; Section 4 is
a framework incorporating seven critical strategies that can be used
to help address the CWM problems in the region; and finally we
draw the main conclusions.
2. Research methodology
The key tool used for strategically planning CWM in Shenzhen is
a SWOT analysis approach,which originates from the business
management discipline and has been widely applied to a broad
array of disciplines. For example, by using the method, Halla (2007)
conducted a strategic urban development planning based on the
case of Dar es Salaam city in Tanzania and concluded thatthe
method is stronger than the procedural or master-planning
approach in planning cities.Recently,a SWOT analysis on envi-
ronmental management in Greek mining and mineral industry was
carried out by Nikolaou and Evangelinos (2010); the authors
claimed that the results could facilitate improved environmental
performance.In the discipline of waste management,an investi-
gation on formulating strategic action plans for municipalsolid
waste management in Lucknow was performed; the study adopted
a research method of integrating stakeholder analysis into SWOT
analysis and presented a set of concrete strategic action plans for
both the community and municipal corporation to improve solid
waste management in that region (Srivastava et al.,2005). It is
evidently demonstrated by those studies that the SWOT analysis
approach is a better tool for investigating problems from a strategic
perspective. Thus it is adopted in the present study to strategically
analyze CWM in Shenzhen.
The research methodology used consists mainly of four parts,
which is shown in Fig. 1.In the first part,the latest status quo of
CWM in Shenzhen is introduced in detail by referring to informa-
tion collected from two sources:one is a thorough search and
examination of related government reports,CWM related regula-
tions and studies; the other is through consulting the government
department staff that are responsible for construction waste plan-
ning and management.Next, a group of research questions are
formulated aiming at diagnosing the strengths, weaknesses,
opportunities and threats of CWM in Shenzhen.In the third part,
a detailed SWOT analysis is performed based on the research
questions developed.Answers to those questions are abstracted
through analyzing information obtained from a series offocus
group meetings with major stakeholders concerned, which mainly
include government department staff, project developers,
contractors,on-site managersand engineers, and construction
waste contractors.The surveyed governmentstaff are from the
Shenzhen Housing and Construction Bureau and responsible for
construction waste management in the region. Other stakeholders
surveyed have been involved in various construction projects and
CWM activities in the past years, and thus they are knowledgeable
about the CWM practices in Shenzhen.Four focus group meetings
are carried out in 2011 and 2012,and each lasts 40e50 min.The
main justification for involving the above stakeholdersin the
focus group meeting is that they have a relatively in-depth
understanding of the CWM practices in Shenzhen.Although other
stakeholders’opinions (such as workers) might be useful in
understanding construction waste problems, their viewpoints
largely focus on CWM issues at the project levelinstead of the
regional level.Given that the major aim of this study is to investi-
gate Shenzhen’s CWM practices from a strategic perspective, CWM
issues at the regional level should be the focal point. At last, based
on the SWOTs identified, recommendationsfor improving the
CWM situation in Shenzhen are presented in line with the principle
of ‘maximizing strengths and opportunities,transforming weak-
nesses to strengths,and minimizing threats’.
3. SWOT analysis of CWM in Shenzhen
3.1.Situation of CWM in Shenzhen
Shenzhen is a coastal city located in southern China adjacent to
Hong Kong.It was established as a Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in
1980 under China’s ‘open door’policy.For many years before China
officially adopted a market economy, Shenzhen was the experimental
zone for China’s serial economic reforms. During the past two decades
Shenzhen’s economy has developed rapidly transforming itself from
a small fishing village into a modern 1952 km2 city with a population
of around 8.46 million. In 2008, Shenzhen’s Gross Domestic Product
(GDP) was about 780.65 billion CNY with the value of the construction
sector accounting for 19.75 billion CNY or 2.5% of that value (NBS,
2009). It was also reported in the statistics that the completed floor
space of residential buildings, office buildings, commercial buildings
and industrial buildings in 2008 was 22.10 billion m2
, 2.02 billion m2
,
3.46 billion m2 and 5.18 billion m2
, respectively (NBS, 2009).
The large-scale construction activities that occurred in Shenzhen
have produced an overwhelming amountof construction waste.
Fig. 1. Research methodology.
H. Yuan / Journal of Cleaner Production 39 (2013) 1e82

According to the Shenzhen EnvironmentalProtection Department,
the total volume of construction waste generated from building
projects in 2005 was approximately 6 million tons, which is an average
of about 17,000 tons per day (Li, 2006). According to an extensive site
survey of building construction,renovation and demolition projects
throughout Shenzhen, it is estimated by the Shenzhen Housing and
Construction Bureau that the proportion of waste generated from new
construction projects, waste from old building demolition and waste
generation due to building renovation is 43.6%,46% and 10.4%,
respectively. It is also found that the major components of construc-
tion waste include concrete (slightly above 60%),mortar (14e16%),
brick (8e11%),metal (approximate 5%) and other mixed construc-
tion materials (SHCB, 2011). At present, the main means for disposing
of construction waste in Shenzhen is landfilling.Otherwise,the
generated construction waste would be dumped at some unautho-
rized areas, which would burden the environment and society a lot.
Moreover, the major concern in construction projects has been given
to some traditional project objectives such as cost, quality, duration,
safety rather than environment.There is therefore a big room for
improving its current CWM practice.
Similar to CWM practices in other regions,various stakeholders
are involved in the entire process of CWM in Shenzhen.The stake-
holders can be generally categorized into two groupings.One
grouping is mostly profit-oriented,mainly comprising project
developers,contractors,on-site managers and engineers,workers
and waste contractors, while the other grouping concerns much more
about the adverse impacts causing by construction waste,which
mainly encompassesrelated governmentdepartmentstaff, the
general public,and related NGOs (Yuan and Shen,2011).Since the
CWM in Shenzhen is almost at a relatively low level, it is difficult to
profit from managing construction waste at this point. This leads to
a fact that most profit-oriented stakeholders are reluctant to manage
construction waste.At present,promotion of CWM in Shenzhen
merely relies on the government’s efforts. Although the awareness of
the local government about CWM has been increasing these years, the
awareness of industry stakeholders and the general public is still low.
3.2. Formulation of research questions
The main research questions developed forperforming the
focus group meeting are presented and explained below.
Q1: What are the strengths of Shenzhen when implementing
CWM?
The first question is concerned with identifying major strengths
of Shenzhen in implementing CWM.Specifically,the participants
might be asked questions like:
What are the advantages when Shenzhen wants to promote
construction waste minimization and management?
What are the factors enabling Shenzhen to be a strong
competitor in managing construction waste?
Q2: What are the weaknesses when Shenzhen performs CWM?
This question aims to identify the weaknesses that Shenzhen
might have in developing CWM.During the focus group meeting,
the participants were requested to express their opinions on
questions such as:
What could be improved when promoting CWM?
What is not done properly when implementing CWM?
What obstacles prevent the promotion of CWM in Shenzhen?
Which aspects as to CWM need to be strengthened?
Q3: What are the opportunities that Shenzhen can exploit to
develop CWM?
This question is intended to acquire information about what
opportunities Shenzhen might externally face in the future when
developing CWM.The question can be further explained by some
questions listed as follows:
What chances that Shenzhen can take advantage of to promote
CWM would occur?
What benefi ts would occur to facilitate an improved CWM in
Shenzhen?
Q4: What are the threats that Shenzhen might face when
developing CWM?
This question examines the threats that would prevent Shenz-
hen from improving its CWM situation. Similar questions include:
What are the external obstacles thatShenzhen mightface
when developing CWM?
Are the supporting facilities for an improved CWM situation
available?
3.3. SWOT analysis of CWM in Shenzhen
SWOT analysis of CWM helps further the understanding about
both the external and internal conditions that Shenzhen would face
when developing CWM.Particularly,the internal conditions are
related to the strengths and weaknesses and the externalcondi-
tions refer to the opportunities and threats. A blow-by-blow
account of these SWOTs (see Table 1) identified from results of
the focus group meeting is provided below.
3.3.1.Strengths
3.3.1.1.S1: geographic location.As previously mentioned,Shenz-
hen is located in south China and adjacent to Hong Kong. In terms
of managing construction waste,the Hong Kong government has
realized the pressing need of preventing construction waste since
the 1980s and thus implemented a series of regulations for mini-
mizing the waste generated. Over the last two decades, the amount
of construction waste produced in Hong Kong has been reduced
significantly, from 8450 tons per day in 1990e3121 tons per day in
2009 (HKEPD,2009,1997).This is largely due to the increasing
effectiveness ofCWM related regulations implemented in Hong
Kong for dealing with construction waste problems. In the process
of practicing those regulations,the Hong Kong government has
gained and accumulated lots ofpracticalexperience in how to
manage construction waste effectively.
Table 1
Results of SWOT analysis on CWM in Shenzhen.
Internal conditions External conditions
Strengths Opportunities
S1: geographic location; O1: special status as a SEZ;
S2: strong awareness of the local
government about promoting CWM;
O2: appealfor reducing construc-
tion waste in the country;
S3: a leading role in promulgating
CWM related regulations in China.
O3: extensive supports from
government and industry
associations.
Weaknesses Threats
W1: incomplete CWM related
regulations;
T1: limited landfills for receiving
construction waste;
W2: low percentage of on-site waste
sorting;
T2: low charge for landfilling
construction waste;
W3: poor construction waste
reduction;
T3: immature market for construc-
tion waste recycling;
W4: lack of systemic planning of
construction waste recycling
facilities.
T4: insufficient funds for support-
ing CWM research.
H. Yuan / Journal of Cleaner Production 39 (2013) 1e8 3

Nevertheless,Shenzhen is lagging far behind compared to the
CWM situation in Hong Kong. Both the government and companies
in Shenzhen lack necessary experience in minimizing and recycling
construction waste.Considering the favorable geographic location
of Shenzhen and extensive exchanges between the two cities in
economic and socialactivities,the surveyed government depart-
ment staff believed that it would be better for Shenzhen to directly
learn well-rounded waste managementexperience from Hong
Kong. On this ground,the geographic location of Shenzhen is an
obvious strength for its CWM development.
3.3.1.2.S2: strong awareness of the local authority about promoting
CWM. Since 2007, the Shenzhen governmenthas realized the
pressing exigencies to minimize construction waste throughout the
city. To this end, numerous efforts from the Shenzhen Housing and
Construction Bureau were made toward three major aspects:
The first endeavor is launching a series of pilot programs for
recycling construction waste.For example,the stone waste
generated on many construction sites was recycled to produce
infilled walls. Further,the government also launched a pilot
program of green construction which aimed at sorting, reusing
and recycling material waste typically including concrete,
bricks,timber and metal.
Since 2007, a significant amount of funds has been invested
into CWM related research. The research covers a wide range of
topics including application of recycled materials from
construction waste,management guidelines for construction
waste minimization in Shenzhen, and the strategic planning of
landfills for clay waste in Shenzhen (2010e2030).
Recently, many management measures have been adopted by
the government to promote adoption of low-waste construc-
tion technologies and materials in Shenzhen. Typical measures
include application of plastic formwork and adoption of
construction technology of fair-faced concrete structure.
Furthermore, in the government invested building projects, the
decoration should be strictly supervised to prevent construc-
tion waste generation.
Besides, in the interviewers, the project owners, contractors and
construction waste contractors argued that CWM has been
becoming more and more important in implementing construction
projects in recent years. For instance, one interviewed construction
waste contractor told us that the Shenzhen government plans to
launch a construction waste disposalcharging scheme,which is
used to impose a levy on landfilling construction waste in Shenz-
hen. It is therefore evident that the Shenzhen government is aware
of the importance of managing construction waste.
3.3.1.3.S3: a leading role in promulgating CWM related regulations
in China. Compared to other cities in China,Shenzhen has been
playing a leading role in promulgating regulations for construction
waste minimization since the late 1990s.A summary of the key
CWM related regulations in Shenzhen is tabulated in Table 2.
3.3.2.Weaknesses
3.3.2.1.W1: incompleteCWM related regulations.As previously
presented,Shenzhen has been playing a leading role in promul-
gating CWM related regulations in China. But when compared with
some advanced western economies,it is found that the current
regulatory system of CWM should be further enhanced and
improved to support of its future CWM development. Shortcomings
of the present regulatory system mainly lie in two aspects: one is
the regulations are incomplete;the other is that most of the
existing regulations are difficult to follow in practice.
Most of the interviewees agreed that comprehensive regula-
tions could form a concrete basis for implementing CWM.None-
theless,according to the CWM regulatory system in Shenzhen,
many problems are stillawaiting to be addressed.Typically,the
project owners and contractors expressed their concern about how
the local authority will support CWM continuously in the future.
They also stated that currently the responsibility allocation
between different governmentdepartmentsinvolved is fuzzy,
which is a significant barrier to better CWM. Besides, what are the
governmentregulations to support sustained developmentof
construction waste reduction and recycling in Shenzhen is not
clear.
Table 2
CWM related regulations in Shenzhen.
Year Regulations Contents regarding CWM
1993 Measures for Environment and
Sanitation Management in
Shenzhen
According to the measures,it is
not allowed to stack up
construction materials and build
temporary structures in public
areas,unless it is authorized in
advance by relevant government
departments.
1998, revised in 2004 Measures for Clay Waste
Management in Shenzhen
This regulation involves some rules
of managing construction
waste generated from new
structures,renovation and
decoration.
2003, revised in 2004 Regulations on Environment and
Sanitation Management in
Shenzhen
It is regulated that contractors
should be solely responsible for
the sanitation management of
construction sites.
2006 Regulations on Environmental
Protection of Construction
Projects in Shenzhen
According to the regulations,
development of construction
projects should base on a principle
of “minimizing construction
waste and encouraging the
public’s participation”;
construction projects should be
planned,designed and
constructed in line with the
principle of circle economy.It is
also regulated that the
environmental protection
department is responsible for
supervising environmental
protection in construction
projects.
2009 Regulations on Construction
Waste Reduction and Recycling in
Shenzhen
It is determined that construction
projects in Shenzhen should
manage construction waste in line
with the principle of “reduction,
reuse and recycling”. The
regulations also contain a set of
measures for waste management,
such as provision of financial aid
and proposal of a waste charging
scheme. It is the first CWM related
regulation in China at the regional
level.
2010 Standard for Construction Waste
Management in Shenzhen
It is developed based on the
“Regulations on Construction
Waste Reduction and Recycling in
Shenzhen”.The standard mainly
aims at benchmarking the waste
generation rate of various
construction projects in
Shenzhen.
H. Yuan / Journal of Cleaner Production 39 (2013) 1e84

On the other hand,most of the CWM regulations in Shenzhen
are difficult to follow.Interviewed government department staff
admitted that at present,most of the regulations merely govern
construction waste issues from a very general perspective, instead
of placing the principal focus on dealing with specific problems that
need to be solved in practice. As a consequence, there are almost no
laws to abide by when it comes to questions such as ‘how to
regulate illegal construction waste dumping behavior’.This even-
tually results in a lot of difficulties in the execution ofCWM in
Shenzhen.
3.3.2.2.W2: low percentage ofon-site waste sorting.The inter-
viewed project contractors presented that currently,most of the
construction waste generated in Shenzhen was mixed,without
being separated or sorted atsource.This has eventually led to
a lower efficiency of reusing and recycling construction waste,as
well as increased costs for construction companies to reuse and
recycle the waste produced. Most of the interviewees believed that
if the generated construction waste can be sorted on-site and then
transported out ofconstruction sites by type,the proportion of
construction waste reuse and recycling would be increased to
a certain extent.
3.3.2.3.W3: poor construction waste reduction.Among the ‘3R’
strategies (reduction,reuse and recycling) for CWM,waste reduc-
tion is the optimal management measure due to its lowest adverse
impacts on environment. It is therefore regarded as the first priority
when developing CWM plans. However, the overall level of
construction waste reduction in Shenzhen is low mainly due to two
reasons: one is raised by the interviewed contractors that at the
project design stage,most of architectsare not aware of the
importance of construction waste reduction,which results in
significant design changes in subsequent construction processes;
the other is at the construction stage,a large amount of construc-
tion waste can be produced because of lack of waste management
plans or use of ineffective waste management approaches, which is
presented by on-site managers and engineers.
3.3.2.4.W4: lack of systematic planning of waste recycling facilities.
The construction waste contractors told us that existing construc-
tion waste recycling facilities in Shenzhen are mainly distributed in
a disordered way throughout the region. This not only causes
inconvenience of transporting construction waste from construc-
tion sites to designated recycling facilities,but also results in
increased costs of construction waste transportation and recycling.
Therefore, a systematic planning of waste recycling facilities should
thoroughly considerthe construction activitiesthroughout the
region and meanwhile optimize the overall distribution of waste
recycling facilities based on transportation distances from
construction sites to the recycling facilities.Many interviewees
agreed that long transportation distance would to a large extent
increase transportation costs and eventually decrease the willing-
ness of contractors to send construction waste to the recycling
facilities.
3.3.3.Opportunities
3.3.3.1.O1: special status as a SEZ.In line with the ‘Reform Devel-
opment Planning of the Pearl River Delta Region (2008e2020)’, the
strategic development of Shenzhen will be mainly focused on two
facets: one is to continue acting as an experimental zone for
national reforms in economy, society and environment; the other is
to build itself up into an international metropolis (CGC,2011).To
fulfill the mission, Shenzhen should on one hand keep on its role as
a SEZ, indicating thatit needs to lead a series of experimental
reforms in respect of the economic, social and environmental
development.Once the reforms were proved to be effective and
successful,they will be generalized to other regions in China.On
the other hand, ‘building itself up into an international metropolis’
means that Shenzhen would have reached an advanced levelin
construction management and environmental conservation by the
end of 2020.Since CWM is one of the critical indicators for evalu-
ating the effectivenessof environmentalconservation,how to
develop CWM in Shenzhen effectively becomes a strategic task of
the government in the next decade.
In line with viewpoints of interviewed government department
staff, the special status of Shenzhen as a SEZ generally benefits the
development of CWM in two ways.Firstly,the SEZ status endues
Shenzhen with special rights,with which it can promulgate regu-
lations freely without being authorized and verified in advance by
the Chinese centralgovernment.This largely shortens the total
time span of enacting a particular regulation and as a consequence
increases the overall efficiency. Secondly, by embracing the ‘Reform
DevelopmentPlanning of the Pearl River Delta Region (2008e
2020)’,there is a good opportunity for Shenzhen to develop and
issue regulations in order to improve its present CWM situation.
3.3.3.2.O2: appeal for reducing constructionwaste in China.
According to the ‘12th Five-Year Plan for NationalEconomic and
Social Development (2011e2015)’,China has to reduce the energy
consumption per unit of GDP by 16%, and reduce the CO2 emission
per unit of GDP by 17% (CGC,2011).To fulfill the macro goal,all
sectors including the construction industry have to contribute to
the mission of waste minimization by embracing sustainable
development practices. Therefore, there is an urgent appeal at the
national level asking for environmentalprotection and waste
minimization.The effects of environmental protection and waste
minimization during the period of 2011 and 2015,which can be
measured by the above two indicators (i.e. the energy consumption
per unit of GDP and the CO2 emission per unit of GDP), will be used
to benchmark the government’s achievement at the regional level.
The staff from the Shenzhen Housing and Construction Bureau
believed that strong appeal for waste minimization can be a good
chance for Shenzhen to promote its CWM, as it is easier for them to
seek supports of other government departments.
3.3.3.3.O3: externalsupportsfrom the governmentand industry
associations.The interviewed government department staff intro-
duced that at present,construction waste management problems
have attracted wide attention from the Shenzhen government and
related industry associations, which lays a concrete foundation for
its further development. For example, the Vice Mayor of Shenzhen
has led many on-site surveys on CWM since 2007.During the
surveys,topics mainly including the progress of landfill construc-
tion, development of construction waste recycling facilities, and the
supporting funds and measures for CWM,were thoroughly inves-
tigated and discussed.Furthermore,the Shenzhen Housing and
Construction Bureau has also made continuous efforts to raise the
public’s awareness about CWM, such as releasing official reports on
the latest situation of CWM in the region through public media and
brochures.In this regard,the efforts from the Shenzhen govern-
ment and industry associations provide strong supports to the
development of CWM.
3.3.4.Threats
3.3.4.1.T1: limited landfills for receivingconstruction waste.In
recent years,the amount of annual construction waste generation
in Shenzhen has been increasing sharply due to the rapid speed of
urbanization and large scale ofrail transportation construction.
There are presently three strategic landfills for receiving
construction waste throughoutthe region, namely, Tang Lang
H. Yuan / Journal of Cleaner Production 39 (2013) 1e8 5

Mountain landfill,Xi Xiang landfill,and CentralCity landfill.The
profile of the landfills is tabulated in Table 3 below.
It can be seen clearly that since the end of 2010,all the three
landfills in Shenzhen have been full,indicating that there is no
facilities available for receiving construction waste after2010.
However,some government department staff mentioned that the
planning and construction of new strategic landfills are lagging far
behind.For example,there were ten construction waste landfills
that had been planned during the 11th Five-Year period (2006e
2010), but only one landfill was successfully built,while the
others failed due to various land requisition problems.Therefore,
the limited landfills in Shenzhen willbe a major obstacle to its
CWM.
3.3.4.2.T2: low charge for landfilling construction waste.
Currently Shenzhen implements a construction waste landfill
charge of 6 CNY per ton, which is much lower compared to
90 US$ per ton in the US and 125 HKD per ton in Hong Kong (Hao
et al., 2007; Mills et al., 1999).Under the present waste landfill
charging scheme, most of developers and contractors in Shenzhen
will not be charged at high costs even though they dump the
generated construction waste directly at landfills without being
separated at source. Thus, the present waste landfill charge cannot
function as an economic vehicle to encourage them to actively
perform construction waste reduction.According to findings from
the focus group meeting, the interviewed government department
staff and project contractorsadmitted that the relatively low
construction waste landfilling charge did notplay a big role in
preventing construction waste in Shenzhen.Also,the government
is considering revising the construction waste landfill charge based
on outcomes of extensive investigations in the next few years.
3.3.4.3.T3: immature market for constructionwaste recycling.
Lack of a mature market for construction waste recycling is another
important threat preventing the development of construction
waste recycling in Shenzhen. According to opinions of interviewed
project contractors and engineers,this disadvantage will not only
decrease major stakeholders’initiative in recycling construction
waste, but also raise transaction costs of trading recycled products.
Eventually this can harm the effectiveness of construction waste
recycling to a certain extent.The interviewed project contractors
told us that lack of a mature market for trading recycled
construction materials has been a major reason leading to a low
proportion of construction waste recycling.Meanwhile,the large
amount of dumped construction waste, which is largely recyclable,
has placed a heavy burden upon limited landfill capacities.There-
fore, the immature market for trading recycled construction
materials restricts the development of CWM in Shenzhen greatly.
3.3.4.4.T4: insufficientfunds for CWM research.It is generally
acknowledged that research is important to driving the develop-
ment of CWM (Lu and Yuan, 2010). But most of the research funds
have been given to the four regional pillar industries, namely, high
technology industry, finance industry, logistics industry, and
culture industry, while the funds invested in CWM related research
are very limited.As argued by some interviewed project owners
and contractors,further development of construction waste recy-
cling and management requires continuous financialsupports to
carry out research in terms of effective CWM methods,effective
construction waste landfillcharge,detailed standard ofrecycled
materials made from construction waste, etc.Only in this way can
they have effective CWM measures to follow when carrying out
waste management activities in construction practice.Hence,lack
of additional funds for conducting CWM related research is also an
important obstacle to CWM development in Shenzhen.
4. Strategies for promoting CWM in Shenzhen,China
Based on the SWOTs identified above,critical strategies for
CWM development can be proposed accordingly,which is exhibi-
ted in Fig. 2. The basic principle of designing CWM strategies is
‘maximizing strengths and opportunities, transforming weak-
nesses to strengths,and minimizing threats’.
It is apparent from Fig.2 that there are seven critical strategies
for addressing CWM problems in Shenzhen from the strategic
perspective, namely, S1-establishing a mechanism for determining
the responsibility of various departments involved, S2-
promulgating detailed CWM regulations, S3-investigatingthe
amount of construction waste generated in Shenzhen and planning
waste facilities properly,S4-implementing CWM throughout the
life cycle of construction projects, S5-implementing a pilot program
of applying recycled construction materials, S6-establishing
a construction waste research institute in Shenzhen, and S7-
raising CWM awareness via training and promotion activities.
Particularly, S1 is to address W1; S2 is mainly to deal with W1 and
T2; S4 and S7 are mainly to address W2 and W3; S3 is proposed to
deal with W4 and T1; S5 is mainly used to minimize the influence
of T3; and S6 is presented to minimize the influence ofT4. The
specific strategies proposed are discussed in the following section.
4.1.S1: establishing a mechanism for determining the responsibility
of various departments involved
CWM is a complicated system which involves many elements
(Seadon, 2010). It not only contains various processes, such as land
requisition for landfill construction,environmental impact assess-
ment of new landfills,and construction waste transportation,but
also involves various government departments, typically including
the construction department,the land department,the planning
department,and the environmentalprotection department.How
to coordinate these departments and allocate responsibilities to
them properly would largely influence the overall effectiveness of
CWM. In Shenzhen,an effective mechanism in which the respon-
sibility of individual department involved is clearly determined is
lacking. Therefore, there is a pressing need to develop a mechanism
in order to clearly state the due responsibility of each department
involved.
4.2. S2: promulgating detailed CWM regulations
As discussed in W1,CWM related regulations in Shenzhen are
incomplete.Exiting regulations only cover aspects of construction
waste transportation and disposal.In this sense, a regulation
system covering a broader range of dimensions,such as construc-
tion waste sorting, reuse, and recycling, should be developed. In the
meantime,present regulations are too general to guide the waste
management practices. This is evident from the qualitative
description of existing regulations.Hence,the Shenzhen govern-
ment should promulgate detailed CWM regulations that the
Table 3
The profile of existing construction waste landfills in Shenzhen.
No. Landfills Start
time
Capacity
(10,000 m3 year1 )
Coverage of
service
Full
since
1 Tang Lang Mountain
landfill
2001 432 The entire city 2006
2 Xi Xiang landfill 2005 50 Bao An district 2008
3 Central City landfill 2001 50 Long Gang
district
2010
H. Yuan / Journal of Cleaner Production 39 (2013) 1e86

industry stakeholders can truly follow.Such regulations have to
contain practicalschemes for managing construction waste and
present proper quantitative indicators that can be used to measure
the effects of CWM.
4.3. S3: investigating the amount of construction waste generated
in Shenzhen and planning waste facilities properly
Most of the cities in China,including Shenzhen,have not con-
ducted regular statistics on amounts of construction waste gener-
ation. This has been a major barrier for stakeholders to
understanding the actual status quo of construction waste gener-
ation in the region and consequently preventing the proposalof
effective management measures to improve the situation.Since
proper allocation of construction waste recycling facilities depends
on a number of factors, among which a significant one is amount of
construction waste generated in specific districts. Without accurate
data on construction waste generation, it is therefore impossible to
determine the layout of waste recycling facilities properly across
the city.Hence,the third recommendation for successful CWM in
Shenzhen is to launch regular statistics on construction waste
generation so that waste recycling facilities can be planned
properly.
4.4. S4: implementing CWM throughout the life cycle of
construction projects
Currently,only the construction materials that can be directly
used in subsequentconstruction processes (such as metaland
timber) are reused and recycled on-site,whilst other construction
waste is sent to landfills or disposed of at unauthorized areas.To
improve the situation, CWM in Shenzhen should embrace the idea
of implementing CWM throughout the life cycle ofconstruction
projects,ranging from the project design stage,the construction
stage,to the final demolition stage.Each of the stages would
contribute to construction waste generation,either directly or
indirectly. Therefore, the current CWM practice in Shenzhen, which
mainly focuses on the construction stage,should be extended to
cover different stages of a construction project’s life cycle.
4.5. S5: implementing a pilot program of applying recycled
materials
Although as discussed previously,Shenzhen has launched
a pilot program of applying recycled construction materials,the
coverage of the pilot program is limited to a few public invested
construction projects.In the future,the pilot program should be
extended further to embody all construction projects in Shenzhen.
To enhance the effectiveness ofthe program,the government is
suggested to develop appropriate assessment systems to regularly
measure the performance of companies in applying recycled
construction materials.Those companies with better performance
will be awarded,which can be an effective mechanism for stimu-
lating companies to adopt recycled construction materials in their
construction projects.
4.6. S6: establishing a construction waste research institute in
Shenzhen
Given that on one hand there are a number ofconstruction
waste problems to be studied and on the other hand, limited funds
have been invested in supporting the construction waste related
research,the Shenzhen government is recommended to establish
a research institute focusing on construction waste recycling and
management. At the beginning of the institute, the government can
provide financial supports to recruit researchers and staff. Once the
institute can make profits through providing consulting service and
selling products or patented technologies to the government and
companies, the government will no longer provide financial
supports for it. This mode has two obvious advantages: one is that
the institute may become a good platform for aggregating talents in
studying construction waste recycling and management; the other
is that the institute can provide reliable and high-quality services
and technologies by referring to the particular context of Shenzhen.
Fig. 2. Strategies for successful CWM in Shenzhen.
H. Yuan / Journal of Cleaner Production 39 (2013) 1e8 7

4.7. S7: raising CWM awareness via training and promotion
activities
It is widely acknowledged by existing literature thatstake-
holders’awareness about CWM plays a vitalrole in CWM devel-
opment (Teo and Loosermore, 2001). At present, industry
stakeholders’awareness about CWM in Shenzhen is at a relatively
low level. It is therefore suggested thatthe governmentcould
enhance their awareness through the following methods:
Launching a series of promotion activities via public adver-
tisement, newspaper,radio and outdoor advertising;
Enhancing awareness of contractors,engineers,architects and
workers through vocational training; and
Establishing specific awards to stimulate the activeness of the
general public and industry stakeholders,so that they can
actively participant in CWM activities.
5. Conclusions
Through carrying out a thorough SWOT analysis,the internal
and external conditions of CWM in Shenzhen of south China were
clearly presented.The results suggestthat while developing its
CWM, Shenzhen should build on its strengthsincluding good
geographic location and strong awareness of the local government
about promoting CWM. Further, Shenzhen has played a leading role
in promulgating CWM related regulations among Chinese cities. In
the meanwhile, Shenzhen presents some weaknesses,which
mainly involve incomplete CWM related regulations,low propor-
tion of on-site construction waste sorting, poor construction waste
reduction,and lack of systemic planning ofconstruction waste
recycling facilities.These weaknesseswould largely hinder its
future CWM development.
The findings also present some major opportunities that
Shenzhen can exploit,as well as some threats thatneed to be
mitigated in the future. Generally,Shenzhen’s specialstatus as
a SEZ in China provides a good chance for the region to promote its
CWM practice.The strong appeal for reducing construction waste
throughout China offers a good externalopportunity to embrace
environmentally friendly practices in the construction industry.
Furthermore,extensive supportsof the local governmentand
industry associations also form a concrete foundation for
promoting CWM in Shenzhen.Nevertheless,threats to successful
CWM are also considerable, which mainly encompass limited
landfills for handling generated construction waste, low charge for
landfilling construction waste,immature market for trading recy-
cled construction materials,and insufficient funds for conducting
CWM research.
Based on the SWOTs identified, seven critical strategies for
improving the CWM situation in Shenzhen were proposed.These
strategies include: S1-establishing a mechanism for determining
the responsibility of various government departments involved, S2-
promulgating detailed CWM regulations, S3-investigating amounts
of construction waste generated in Shenzhen and planning
construction waste facilities properly, S4-implementing CWM
throughout the life cycle of construction projects, S5-implementing
a pilot program of applying recycled construction materials,S6-
establishing a construction waste research institute in Shenzhen,
and S7-raising CWM awareness via training and promotion activ-
ities. The identified SWOTs are critical in contributing to successful
CWM in Shenzhen.They may also be usefulreferences for other
Chinese regions which intend to enhance the CWM. The strategies
proposed could be utilized by decision-makers in Shenzhen to plan
its future CWM development.
Acknowledgments
This study was supported by the National Natural Science
Foundation ofChina (Grant No 71203184) and the Fundamental
Research Funds for the Central Universities (SWJTU12CX115).
References
CGC (Central Government of China), 2011. 12th Five-year Plan for
National Economic and Social Development (2011e2015).Available at: http://
www.ce.cn/.
Formoso,T.C.,Soibelman,M.L., De Cesare,C., Isatto,E.L.,2002. Material waste in
building industry: main causes and prevention.Journal of Construction Engi-
neering and Management 128 (4),316e325.
Halla,F.,2007.A SWOT analysis of strategic urban development planning: the case
of Dar es Salaam city in Tanzania.Habitat International 31, 130e142.
Hao, J.L., Hills, M.J., Huang,T., 2007.A simulation modelusing system dynamics
method for construction and demolition waste management in Hong Kong.
Journal of Construction Innovation 7 (1),7e21.
HKEPD (Hong Kong Environment Protection Department),1997.Monitoring Solid
Waste in Hong Kong. Available at: https://www.wastereduction.gov.hk/en/
materials/info/msw1997.pdf.
HKEPD (Hong Kong Environment Protection Department),2009.Monitoring Solid
Waste in Hong Kong. Available at: https://www.wastereduction.gov.hk/en/
materials/info/msw2009.pdf.
Li, P., 2006. Integrated Utilization of C&D Waste to Develop Circle Economy. Review
Report by the Shenzhen Construction Bureau.
Lu, W.S.,Yuan,H.P.,2010.Exploring critical success factors for waste management
in construction projects of China. Resources, Conservation and Recycling 55 (2),
201e208.
Mills, T.H., Showalter, E., Jarman, D., 1999. A cost effective waste management plan.
Cost Engineering 41 (3),35e43.
NBS (National Bureau of Statistics of China),2009.Shenzhen StatisticalYearbook.
Beijing Statistics Press,Beijing.
Nikolaou,I.E.,Evangelinos,K.I., 2010.A SWOT analysis of environmental manage-
ment practices in Greek mining and mineralindustry.Resources Policy 35,
226e234.
Seadon,J.K., 2010. Sustainable waste managementsystem.Journal of Cleaner
Production 18 (16e17), 1639e1651.
SHCB (Shenzhen Housing and Construction Bureau), 2011. The Technical Manual for
Reducing Construction Waste in Shenzhen (Code No.: SJG21e2011).
Srivastava,P.K.,Kulshreshtha,K., Mohanty,C.S.,Pushpangadan,P.,Singh,A., 2005.
Stakeholder-basedSWOT analysis for successful municipal solid waste
management in Lucknow India.Waste Management 25,531e537.
Teo,M.M.M., Loosermore,M., 2001.A theory of waste behavior in the construction
industry.Construction Management and Economics 19 (7),741e751.
Wang,J.Y.,Yuan,H.P.,Kang,X.P.,Lu, W.S.,2011.Critical success factors for on-site
sorting of construction waste:a China study. Resources,Conservation and
Recycling 54,931e936.
Yuan, H.P., Shen, L.Y., 2011. The research trend of construction and demolition waste
management.Waste Management 31 (4),670e679.
H. Yuan / Journal of Cleaner Production 39 (2013) 1e88