Risk assessment of circular economy practices in construction industry of Pakistan

The construction industry (CI) is responsible for consuming 3 billion tons of natural raw materials annually. Also, as per the survey by World Resources Institute, the CI accounts for 40 % of the total waste generated globally. The solu-tion to this inefficient resource usage and adverse effects on the ecosystem is implementing Circular Economy (CE) practices in CI. However, the concept of circular construction is in developmental stages. Therefore, it is more prone to damaging risks than traditional construction. The primary aim of this study is to identify and assess the risk related to implementing CE practices in developing country construction sector. To achieve this aim, 25 risks were shortlisted from the literature review and evaluated upon the probability, detection, and severity risk criteria. This study proposed a novel hybrid fuzzy Multi-Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) approach to analyze the shortlisted risks. Fuzzy Step Wise Assessment Ratio Analysis (FSWARA) is employed to gauge the risk criterion weightage. Moreover, Fuzzy VIKOR (FVIKOR) is used to determine the risks' ranking as per the weightage of the risk criterion. The analyses ranked lack of political support and incentives for circular construction, difficulty in selection of circular construction experts, profit uncertainty, and circular material quality as the most critical risks. Therefore, it is recommended for legislative authority to devise a framework that promotes and provides support to circular construction. Moreover, this study fills the literature gap by assessing the risks of CE practices in the CI of Pakistan.

Automated summary

The construction industry consumes 3 billion tons of natural raw materials annually and accounts for 40% of the global waste generated. Implementing Circular Economy practices in the construction industry can address resource wastage and negative impacts on the ecosystem. However, the concept of circular construction is still in its developmental stage and is more vulnerable to risks compared to traditional construction. This study aims to identify and assess the risks associated with implementing Circular Economy practices in the construction sector of a developing country. A novel hybrid fuzzy Multi-Criteria Decision Making approach is proposed to analyze the identified risks, and the lack of political support and incentives, difficulty in selecting circular construction experts, profit uncertainty, and circular material quality are identified as the most critical risks. Legislative authorities are recommended to develop a framework that promotes and supports circular construction, and this study contributes to filling the gap in literature by assessing the risks of Circular Economy practices in the construction industry of Pakistan.