Recycled construction and demolition waste material: a cost-benefit analysis under uncertainty

Tseng, M.-L., Jeng, S.-Y., Lin, C.-W. and Lim, M. K. (2021) Recycled construction and demolition waste material: a cost-benefit analysis under uncertainty. Management of Environmental Quality, 32(3), pp. 665-680. (doi: 10.1108/MEQ-08-2020-0175)

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Abstract

Purpose: Construction and demolition waste (CDW) continuously causes environmental and social problems. These formidable challenges lead to sustainable issues and are an increasingly urgent issue worldwide. Prior studies have neglected to link the triple bottom line (TBL) to a reliable estimation or empirical model for estimating CDW production performance and lack empirical sensitivity analysis in profit maximization. This study proposes an attribute analysis to build a cost–benefit analysis (CBA) to obtain profit maximization. Design/methodology/approach: This study uses fuzzy set theory to develop a cost and benefit analysis (CBA) model to assess the sensitivity analysis in terms of its performance on addressing the environmental, economic and social aspects. The model is used to weigh the sum of benefits such as financial gain and total costs of actions taken to mitigate the negative impacts. Findings: Based on the sensitivity analysis conducted, the environmental, economic and social mean scales were significantly changed, i.e. increased, and profits increased drastically. The results provide an insight into environmental legislation compliance, environmental investment and environmental impact as the cause attributes for the CDW recycling profit increase. The results prove that sensitivity analysis is viable to infer that a sustainable production performance can achieve more revenue and profit through an adequate selection of attributes regarding the TBL aspects to address the firm's uncertainty problem in multiple criteria analysis. Originality/value: This study builds a CBA model to maximize profits for recycled CDW material by linking of environmental, economic and societal aspects for recycled CDW assessments. It considers a sustainability structure with criteria based on TBL aspects to assess production performance to realize the Sustainable Development Goals and presents fuzzy set theory and sensitivity analysis to solve the uncertainty problem in the construction industry.

Item Type:Articles
Additional Information:This research is funded by the Chongqing Science and Technology Commission (Project no. cstc2019jscx-msxmX0189).
Status:Published
Refereed:Yes
Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID:Lim, Professor Ming
Authors: Tseng, M.-L., Jeng, S.-Y., Lin, C.-W., and Lim, M. K.
College/School:College of Social Sciences > Adam Smith Business School > Management
Journal Name:Management of Environmental Quality
Publisher:Emerald
ISSN:1477-7835
ISSN (Online):1758-6119
Published Online:03 February 2021

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