A Case for Lean-Based Guidelines for Construction and Demolition Waste Minimization in Zimbabwe

Construction and Demolition Waste (CDW) significantly costs Zimbabwe, as most waste is directed to landfills, riverbanks, and open spaces. This has made construction practitioners call for efficient strategies such as lean construction (LC). LC could help minimize construction waste in on-site operations. It could reduce land and water pollution and the blockage of watercourses caused by CDW. Minimizing CDW creates cost savings and value for the construction project clients. Although LC has addressed CDW minimization in varying countries, this is not the case in Zimbabwe, where a pressing need for resource efficiency is urgent. Thus, this paper proposes a conceptual framework for evolving LC-based guidelines for minimizing CDW in Zimbabwe. A critical review of relevant literature was conducted to observe how LC tools are utilized to minimize CDW. Given that such a framework could limit the pollution of land and open spaces with CDW, which affects people and the built environment in general, the next phase of the doctoral study would be to test and modify it through mixed methods research empirically.