Low-and middle-income countries lag behind in research that is related to the construction industry and the waste problems that the sector is facing. Literature shows that waste reduction and recycling have received a continuous interest from researchers, but mainly from developed countries. Few reports from low-and middle-income countries are concerned about the reuse of masonry, concrete, and mortar in clay based building ceramics or recycling construction waste, but mostly in relation to concrete aggregates. Furthermore, few authors have described the major barriers and motivations for construction waste reduction. The objective of this paper is to report the findings on a research performed in Costa Rica with the objective to determine the barriers and motivations that the construction sector is facing to improve the management of the construction materials. The study is based on data collected in two phases. During the first phase, a survey was sent via e-mail to 419 main contractors registered at the School Federation of Engineers and Architects (CFIA). The second phase consisted of a focus group discussion with 49 professionals from the construction industry to analyse and validate the findings from the survey. Descriptive statistic methods helped to draw the conclusions. The result of the research is a comprehensive list of observed barriers and motivations for waste reduction practices in the construction sector. These are not only applicable to Costa Rica, but can be used as a guide for similar studies in other low-and middle-income countries.

The construction industry deals with the provision of shelter and infrastructure for acontinuing growing population and urbanization, especially in developing countries, Thissector is well known as a huge consumer of natural resources; which produces a significantquantity of construction and demolition waste, Data about the situation of construction wastegeneration in Costa Rica is scarce and the objectives of the study were to develop a baselinestudy to determine quantities and composition of the waste, as well as, motivators and barriersfor achieving a more sustainable activity, This paper draws the findings of the surveyundertaken by means of questionnaires, interviews and site visits, The composition basicallyis wood, soil, piping materials, corrugated roof sheets, wires, packaging materials (paper,plastic and cardboard), cement, concrete, blocks, paints and debris, The amounts (either byvolume or by weight) of these streams are unknown since the majority of the companies don'tkeep track of these data, It is suggested a value of I 00 kg/m2 as an educated guess of theamount of construction waste produced, This high amount, compared to lower values found inliterature for developed countries, could be explained by the general lack of awareness andinformation on environmental issues as well as lack of technologies, governmentalenforcement and market incentives to improve the environmental footprint of the sector,