Developing a construction waste material 'passport' for cross-jurisdictional trading

By degrading the natural environment and occupying valuable land space, the massive solid waste from construction and demolition activities is looming as a global crisis. Since more than 90% of construction waste is inert and suitable for recycling, promoting waste material cross-border trading is high on the agenda of solving this crisis. However, obstructing this potential trading is the asymmetric information between stakeholders. Inspired by the ideas of travel passports and the 'material passports', this research designs a waste material passport (WMP) to facilitate such cross-jurisdictional trading. It is proposed that the information items such as material types, properties, circularity, handling history, and so on should be included and readily for further expansion. By substantiating it in a semi-hypothetical case study of the Greater Bay Area, China, the WMP is found to be able to reduce information asymmetry in waste trading and cover information gaps to enable a circular economy in the long run.

Automated summary

The massive solid waste from construction and demolition activities is becoming a global crisis due to environmental degradation and land occupation. The promotion of waste material cross-border trading is crucial in solving this crisis, but hindered by asymmetric information between stakeholders. This research proposes a waste material passport (WMP) based on the concept of travel and 'material passports' to facilitate cross-jurisdictional trading and reduce information asymmetry, as demonstrated in a semi-hypothetical case study of the Greater Bay Area, China.