Assessing the Method of Minimizing Wastage of Construction Materials on Selected Public Building Projects in SNNRP Ethiopia

Fikremariam Girma*
Arba Minch University, Ethiopia.
Periodicity:October - December'2025

Abstract

The Ethiopian construction activities have grown exponentially, but the construction management practices are poor. The construction industry in Arba Minch is an active and crucial segment in the economic development of the town. The general objective of this study was to investigate the factors affecting construction material wastage on building works. This study also identifies the main causes, determines the percentage of construction materials, ranks and analyzes the main effect on the group of factors, and measures the minimization practices of construction material wastage on building works. The data analyzed was calculated using the relative importance index (RII) and the numerical formula to determine material quantity data. The research discovered that the major factors that cause construction waste in building projects were materials, which were quantified as per the percentage level of wastage: coarse aggregate (13.15%), fine aggregate (12.55%), HCB (12.25%), reinforcement steel (8.95%), concrete mix (8.25%), and cement (6.11%) are the key materials wasted on construction sites. Therefore, this study concluded that, in order to minimize wastage on building works, good construction management, proper storage and handling of materials, reuse of waste materials, and the use of appropriate software packages to minimize design changes and overordering should be practiced.

Keywords

Building Works, Material Wastage, Wastage Level, Material, Sustainable Construction, Public Buildings.

How to Cite this Article?

Girma, F. (2025). Assessing the Method of Minimizing Wastage of Construction Materials on Selected Public Building Projects in SNNRP Ethiopia. i-manager’s Journal on Structural Engineering, 14(3), 1-25.

References

[2]. Agyekum, K. (2012). Minimizing Materials Wastage at the Construction Stage of a Project through the Implementation of Lean Construction (Doctoral dissertation).
[4]. Akinkurolere, O. O., & Franklin, S. O. (2005). Investigation into waste management on construction sites in South Western Nigeria. American Journal of Applied Sciences, 2(5), 980-984.
[6]. Al-Hamadani, S. M., Xiao-lan, Z. E. N. G., Mian, M. M., & Liu, Z. (2014). Material waste in the China construction industry: Minimization strategies and benefits of recognition. International Journal of Energy & Environment, 5(6), 717-722.
[7]. Al-Moghany, S. S. (2006). Managing and Minimizing Construction Waste in Gaza Strip (Master Thesis, Islamic University of Gaza–Palestine.
[8]. Almusawi, M. B. H. A. (2023). Management of Construction and Demolition Waste in Kuwait (Master's thesis, Universiti Tun Hussein Onn (Malaysia)).
[9]. Al-Rifai, J. A. R., & Amoudi, O. (2016). Understanding the key factors of construction waste in Jordan. Jordan Journal of Civil Engineering, 10(2).
[11]. Cotton, A. P., Sohail, M., & Tayler, W. K. (1998). Community initiatives in urban infrastructure. Water, Engineering and Development Centre (WEDC), Loughborough University, Loughborough, United Kingdom.
[12]. Dowdy, S., Wearden, S., & Chilko, D. (2011). Statistics for Research. John Wiley & Sons.
[16]. Ferguson, J. (1995). Managing and Minimizing Construction Waste: A Practical Guide. Thomas Telford.
[17]. Formoso, C. T., Isatto, E. L., & Hirota, E. H. (1999). Method for waste control in the building industry. In Proceedings IGLC, 7, 325.
[20]. Gulghane, A. A., & Khandve, P. V. (2015). Management for construction materials and control of construction waste in construction industry: a review. International Journal of Engineering Research and Applications, 5(4), 59-64.
[21]. Hannure, N. K., & Kulkarni, S. S. (2014). Comparative study of traditional material management and material management with ICT application. Current Trends in Technology and Science, 3(4), 301-307.
[22]. Hashemi, M. H., Mamaghani, N. H. M. H., & Daei, M. (2014). Design and utilization wastes in construction. ARPN Journal of Engineering and Applied Sciences, 9(11), 2212-2219.
[23]. Idris, I., Sani, A., & Abubakar, A. (2015). An evaluation of material waste and supply practice on construction sites in Nigeria. Journal of Multidisciplinary Engineering Science and Technology, 2(5), 1142-1147.
[25]. Jones, P., & Greenwood, R. (2003). Construction Waste Minimisation in Housing. Centre for Research in the Built Environment, Welsh School of Architecture, Cardiff University, Wales, UK.
[27]. Koskela, L. (1992). Application of the new production philosophy to construction (Technical Report No. 72). Center for Integrated Facility Engineering (CIFE), Stanford University.
[31]. Macozoma, D. S. (2002). Construction site waste management and minimization. International Report No. BOU C, 361.
[33]. Mata, R., Pitroda, J., & Vyas, C. M. (2015). A critical literature review on integrated framework for source identification and minimization of waste in building construction. Journal of International Academic Research for Multidisciplinary, 2(12), 163–175.
[34]. Merid, M., Abera, N., & Belachew, T. (2012). The Role of Construction Management Professional in Minimizing Wastage of Material in Building Construction the Case of Addis Ababa (Doctoral dissertation, Addis Ababa University).
[35]. Mortaheb, M. M., Ruwanpura, J. Y., Dehghan, R., & Khoramshahi, F. (2007). Major factors influencing construction productivity in industrial congested sites. In Proceedings of the Annual Conference of the Canadian Society for Civil Engineering, Yellowknife (pp. 1111-1120).
[36]. Nagapan, S., Rahman, I. A., & Asmi, A. (2012). Factors contributing to physical and non-physical waste generation in construction industry. International Journal of Advances in Applied Sciences, 1(1), 1-10.
[37]. Patil, A. R., & Pataskar, S. V. (2013). Analyzing material management techniques on construction project. International Journal of Engineering and Innovative Technology, 3(4), 96-100.
[38]. Polat, G., & Ballard, G. (2004). Waste in Turkish construction: need for lean construction techniques. In Proceedings of the 12th Annual Conference of the International Group for Lean Construction IGLC-12, August, Denmark (pp. 488-501).
[39]. Poon, C. S., & Jaillon, L. (2002). A Guide for Minimizing Construction and Demolition Waste at the Design Stage. Department of Civil and Structural Engineering, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University.
[40]. Poon, C. S., Yu, T. W., & Ng, L. H. (2001). A Guide for Managing and Minimizing Building and Demolition Waste. Hong Kong, China: Department of Civil & Structural Engineering, Hong Kong Polytechnic University.
[41]. Putra, C. C. W., Ahmad, A., Majid, M. A., & Kasim, N. (1999). Improving material scheduling for construction industry in Malaysia. In Malaysian Science & Technology Congress,99, 6-8. Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia: COSTAM.
[43]. Shen, L. Y., Tam, W. Y. V., & Tam, C. M. (2002). Subcontracting arrangements and solid waste generation in the construction industry. In The International Conference on Construction Management and Real Estate. Macau University. 2002. 25-29 August 2002. 60, 71.
[44]. Shen, L., Tam, V., Tam, C., & Ho, S. (2002). Material wastage in construction activities–a Hong Kong survey. In CIB W107: Creating a Sustainable Construction Industry in Developing Countries. CSIR.
[45]. Skoyles, E. R. (1987). Waste Prevention on Site. BT Batsford Limited.
[51]. Wahab, A. B., & Lawal, A. F. (2011). An evaluation of waste control measures in construction industry in Nigeria. African Journal of Environmental Science and Technology, 5(3), 246-254.
If you have access to this article please login to view the article or kindly login to purchase the article

Purchase Instant Access

Single Article

North Americas,UK,
Middle East,Europe
India Rest of world
USD EUR INR USD-ROW
Pdf 35 35 200 20
Online 15 15 200 15
Pdf & Online 35 35 400 25

Options for accessing this content:
  • If you would like institutional access to this content, please recommend the title to your librarian.
    Library Recommendation Form
  • If you already have i-manager's user account: Login above and proceed to purchase the article.
  • New Users: Please register, then proceed to purchase the article.