| dc.description.abstract | Construction industry consumes a large part of raw materials and energy, and produces huge
number of solid wastes due to material wastage. It is assumed that wastes generated by construction
process have a significant negative impact on the economy and environment. Effective materials
management helps in reducing the quantity of wastes produced due construction material wastage
and contributing to sustainable development and cost control.
This research was to quantify the material wastage on construction sites in Kampala district. This
was achieved through determining the causes and extent of materials wastage, determine the
percentages allocated to materials wastage of different materials used on sites, using the Economic
Order Quantity (EOQ) model to compare and give advice on quantities of materials bought on site
and the amount supposed to be bought if they used EOQ. Data was analyzed using software like,
Microsoft Excel, Microsoft word and SPSS.
Among the causes of construction materials wastage, the researcher revealed that at design stage,
the most cause of materials wastage was changes in design as construction is progressing and
inadequate information of construction drawing. During procurement, the most causes of materials
wastage were ordering errors and purchasing materials which doesn’t comply with the required
standards. During handling and storage phase, the most causes of construction materials wastage
were damages during onsite transportation and inappropriate storage leading to deterioration. Also
at construction stage, the causes were, worker’s mistakes and lack of on-site materials control.
Effective methods of controlling materials wastage were given in order as below;
adequate supervision of workers, roper storage facilities, tight security arrangement at sites, daily
stock taking and lastly materials schedules
Research also revealed that, using EOQ to calculate the quantity of materials to be bought at site
for a given period of time saved more costs and prevented materials wastage since the more amount
bought on sites, the more they are wasted. | en_US |
