Investigation on the Factors Affecting Construction Materials Wastage on Building Projects in Jimma Town

Abstract

Now a day’s building construction industries are boosting globally and consuming huge amounts of resources. However, responsibly managing waste on a building construction project is a vital component of optimum use of the limited resources to sustain the ongoing development in the construction sectors. Waste on site is the difference between that used as specified and the quantity of material delivered to site as a percentage of such deliveries. The Ethiopian construction activities were exponentially grown but the construction management practice are poor. The Construction industry in jimma, is an activities and crucial segment in economic development of the town. It generates tons of construction wastes per year, making construction wastes a cross cutting issue for indepth investigation. Until now, there is no study in Jimma construction sites that has investigated this issue and addressed the main causes and factors that contribute to construction wastes. Therefore, the general objective of this study was to investigate on the factors affecting construction materials wastage on building projects. This study also identifies the main causes, determine the percentage of construction materials, rank and analyses the main effect on the group of factors and to measure the minimization practices of construction materials wastage on building projects. The data analyzed was calculated using relative importance index (RII) and the numerical formula to determine material quantity data as well as the percentage of construction materials wastage on building projects considering building schedules of rates (BSR) as the basis for analysing the level of percentage. The research discovered that the major factors that causing construction waste in building projects are material storage and handling, design and documentation, procurement, operational respectively In addition, the key materials which quantified as per the percentage level wastage coarse aggregate (12.26%), fine aggregate (11.73%), HCB (11.65%), reinforcement steel (9.23%), concrete mix (7.52%), and cement (6.11%) are the key materials wasted on construction sites. Therefore, the this study conclude that in order to minimize wastage on building projects were practicing good construction management, proper storage and handling of material, encourage re- using of waste materials and uses of appropriate software package to minimize design changes and over ordering.