Green supply chain management for construction waste: Case study for Turkey

As the construction industry is growing rapidly, managing a project becomes more vital. The three major parameters to be optimised for a project are content, time and cost to reach a high level of quality. These parameters are also essential for a construction project to satisfy customers on time. Today, it is also critical to protect the environment either at a manufacturing or at a construction site. Environmental problems and the growth of construction industry cause a new topic to manage construction waste with the help of green supply chain management (GSCM). GSCM reduces energy usage and waste, so it prevents any problem that will occur in human health and environment. To decrease waste with the help of GSCM in construction site, waste management regulations must be set to force the producers and consumers for its application. The European Union Council published a waste management directive in 2008 that gives some goal numbers to manage construction waste to minimise the environmental effect. The goal is to reach a reduction of 70% of construction and demolition waste (CDW) that will be reused, recycled or recovered in 2020. The aim of this study is to explore the cost-benefit and social-benefit reflections of GSCM practices in Turkey under the influence of recent government mandated regulations with an emphasis on green supply chain and reverse logistics in CDW compared to EU 2008 directive. As Turkey is a candidate EU member, this study is analysing how close it is to the directives mentioned above. A GSCM flow chart is established to understand the CDW management system clearly in Turkey. Based on the literature review and case study examples from Turkey a model is built and propositions regarding GSCM and reverse logistics are formulated.