THE IMPLEMENTATION OF CIRCULAR ECONOMY PRACTICES IN THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST BUILT ENVIRONMENT, ENABLERS AND BARRIERS

Abstract

Construction is a highly resource-consuming industry. Over the last few years, various events have created disruptions and acceleration in the delivery of construction projects that have magnified how intensive is the use of raw materials and finished goods for construction. Further, this intensity translates into also producing a massive amount of waste annually. The construction industry is now looking for innovative solutions to mitigate the negative environmental impact caused by the whole industry. New models proposed by other industries have been adapted and introduced into construction, including the concept of Circular Economy. Circular Economy is an economic model that has emerged in recent years and its main goal is to keep the materials at their highest value in a closed loop. This thesis relies on an extensive literature review that allowed to identify 12 Circular Economy practices and was followed up with a survey and interviews among a selected number of construction professionals. Fifteen industry representatives were inquired about these practices, their experience with implementing them as well as the enablers and barriers to each of them, and the stakeholders that drive the decision of implementing these practices on their projects. This research serves as an exploratory study and aims understanding what circular economy practices have a high potential to be implemented in the PNW and outline a framework to boost their implementation.