Development of Expert System for Waste Management Onsite in Construction Industry

A vast number of developing countries are trying to achieve sustainable economic. In the attainment of these goals, construction industry is playing a major role. It provides direct means to development and expansion of activities; however at the same time is a major consumer of natural resources and a polluter to the environment. The construction industry has a substantial impact on environment in every stage of construction activities, and its environmental effects are in direct relation to the quality and quantity of the waste it generates. With the demands in implementing major infrastructure projects together with many housing development programs, a large amount of construction waste is being produced by the construction sector. Thus, waste management is an important area of concern in the implementation of the environmental pollution management in the construction industry. In recent years expert systems have been used extensively in environmental related field. They are becoming increasingly useful tool especially in developing countries due to limitation on resources, particularly human expertise and data availability. This paper presents the development of an expert system by using Visual Basic software. When using this software, the user first describes the construction stage. Then, based on this description, it informs user about the expected waste generation during the construction activities. Finally it provides advice on waste management onsite.

Keywords:

construction industry , construction waste management , expert system , knowledgebase.