Page 102 - AJWEP-22-5

Liu and Jusoh

Construction Waste Management,” which established all three sectors. Therefore, the study contributes
specific requirements for the recycling and utilization by addressing this understudied intersection and by
of construction waste. In recent years, several policies providing grounded insights to improve integrated
6
and regulations have been introduced to enhance policy and operational efficiency.
recycling efficiency and promote the circular economy. To realize the objective, this study represents the
In 2023, Xi’an recorded the highest utilization rate in first empirical effort in Shaanxi to combine qualitative
the province, with a comprehensive utilization rate of interviews across all three sectors, aiming to uncover
around 50%, while other cities remained below 20%. In the economic bottlenecks and systemic inefficiencies in
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contrast, countries such as Japan, Singapore, Australia, construction waste recycling. The investigation focuses
and Germany have achieved a recycling and secondary on the following key questions:
utilization rate of over 90% for construction waste. (i) How do construction companies perform in terms
8,9
This data clearly highlight two important points: the of economic benefits and cost control?
feasibility of recycling construction waste and the (ii) How do recycling enterprises perform in terms of
significant room for improvement in Shaanxi. economic benefits and market demand?
In numerous studies aimed at improving China’s (iii) What resources and technical support does the
construction waste recycling rate, the costs and economic government provide to promote recycling and reuse?
challenges faced by construction and recycling units
have been identified as the most significant barriers By investigating and analyzing these questions within
to a smooth recycling process. 10,11 In addition, many Shaanxi, this study seeks to enhance the understanding
studies have proposed government financial subsidies of the economic challenges faced by construction
and incentives as key measures to enhance recycling companies and recycling enterprises. In addition, it
rates. 12,13 Furthermore, there is often a direct correlation aims to provide valuable insights to support government
between recycling rates and the economic development decision-making in designing supportive policies.
levels of different regions or countries. For instance,
recycling rates in developed countries tend to be higher 2. Methodology
than those in developing nations. 14,15 This highlights the
critical importance of costs and economic performance 2.1. Research approach
for construction and recycling entities in the recycling This study investigated the economic performance of
process. Therefore, to improve the current state of construction companies, recycling enterprises, and
construction waste recycling in Shaanxi, it is essential government management departments in the recycling
to focus on the costs and economic benefits associated and waste utilization process, identifying areas for
with these two sectors. improvement to enhance economic feasibility. Given
Previous research on construction waste management the study’s focus on the economic behaviors and actions
in China has primarily focused on the economic of the three stakeholders in the recycling and reuse
performance of recycling enterprises, emphasizing the process, qualitative research was deemed more suitable
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perspective of waste recipients and recycled product for addressing these objectives. As Lim suggested,
producers. 16,17 These studies often overlook the economic qualitative research enables researchers to explore and
interactions between stakeholders, particularly the understand complex problems and phenomena more
dual role of construction companies as generators of deeply.
waste and potential consumers of recycled products. Therefore, this study adopted a qualitative analysis
Moreover, while government support mechanisms approach, specifically the semi-structured interview
are frequently discussed in theory, they are seldom method, to examine the economic performance of
examined empirically through multi-stakeholder construction companies, construction waste recycling
perspectives within a specific regional context. enterprises, and government departments in recycling
In this regard, this study introduces a novel stakeholder and waste utilization processes. To gain deeper insights
triad analysis (construction companies, recycling into the multi-actor economic behaviors, thematic
enterprises, and government bodies) to investigate analysis was applied in this research. This method has
economic performance and inter-dependencies within a been widely used in many qualitative research studies to
single provincial case – Shaanxi. This triadic approach systematically organize and describe data in rich detail.
has not been comprehensively applied in existing Moreover, it often goes beyond description to interpret
research, especially using qualitative field data from various aspects of the research topic. 19

Volume 22 Issue 5 (2025) 96 doi: 10.36922/AJWEP025120080