Waste measurement procedure for Brazilian social housing projects

This study analyses the generation of building waste at construction sites of single-family social housing in southern Brazil. In recent times, access to housing financing in Brazil has become easier through the Minha Casa Minha Vida programme; however, this programme seems to generate a larger amount of waste because the contractors work as small companies. Therefore, it is important to investigate the quantities of waste generated in the sector, using specific methods. This work proposes a procedure to measure waste generation on building sites of social housing projects. It is important to measure waste generation because there are many similar projects in the country. The measurement procedure was designed to be workable in the conditions often found in this kind of building site. It was tested in works carried out in Ivoti and Lindolfo Collor, two cities in southern Brazil. Most of the residues found were composed of polyvinyl chloride, wood, plywood and steel bars. The results showed a waste rate of 0·054 m³/m². The procedure was highly acceptable by the workers and the results showed that studying waste generation in this kind of building project is feasible.