An Institutional Approach to Waste Management and Circularity in Construction

Doctoral thesis, 2025

The construction industry, responsible for over 30 percent of all waste in the European Union, is a key contributor to both environmental degradation and resource depletion. Operating largely on a linear production model, where materials are discarded at the end of their life cycle, the sector has led to unsustainable consumption of natural resources. To address this, the European Union has advocated for the adoption of circular economy principles in construction and demolition waste management. The circular economy offers a sustainable alternative by decoupling economic growth from the use of finite resources, promising both environmental and economic benefits.

One of its most compelling aspects is the potential for developing new circular business models, which not only improve resource efficiency but also offer opportunities for organizations to innovate and gain competitive advantages. These models create value through reuse, recycling, and material recovery, allowing businesses to reduce waste while generating new revenue streams. Despite the European Commission’s efforts to promote these principles through directives and action plans, Sweden’s construction sector has struggled to fully incorporate them.

This thesis addresses the gap between current construction waste management practices and the industry’s expected shift toward circular economy principles, where the development of circular business models is viewed as a key driver for change. By building on the concepts of institutional work and institutional logics, the research examines how industry actors navigate institutional complexity and inertia while responding to new expectations posed to them. Institutional work sheds light on the role of actors and how their actions shape the developments by either reinforcing existing waste management practices or promoting the development of new, more sustainable ones.

Drawing on a social constructivist approach and qualitative research methods, this study is based on four separate cases, where the primary methods for gathering empirical material have been semi-structured interviews and observations. An action research approach has provided in-depth insights into how organizational members engage in the development of circular business models, but also reveals their struggles in translating circular economy principles into their existing business frameworks. This approach has allowed me to trace how individual actions influence the institutional field, offering insights into how the field shapes the behaviors of industry actors and how established industry practices persist. The collective efforts of various actors demonstrate that institutional inertia, rooted in these established practices, continues to hinder the sector's ability to fully adopt circular economy principles.