Circular Economy and Construction Waste Management in Saudi Mega-Projects: Pathways Towards Vision 2030 Sustainability Targets

Abstract

Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 is accelerating the delivery of large-scale urban, tourism, transport, industrial and infrastructure projects while simultaneously strengthening national ambitions for environmental protection, resource efficiency and waste diversion. The scale of this development creates a strategic challenge: construction and demolition waste cannot be managed only as an end-of-pipe disposal problem. It must be addressed through a circular economy model that prevents waste, preserves material value, enables reuse and high-value recycling, and creates dependable markets for secondary construction materials. This paper develops a Saudi-contextualised pathway for integrating circular economy principles with construction waste management in mega-projects. A structured narrative review was undertaken using recent peer-reviewed literature, Saudi policy and regulatory sources, international circular-economy standards, and contemporary research on digital construction and material passports. The review identifies persistent barriers including fragmented responsibilities, limited lifecycle awareness, insufficient source segregation, inconsistent quality assurance for recovered materials, weak secondary-material demand, data gaps, and inadequate contractual incentives. In response, the paper proposes an integrated Circular Construction and Waste Management Framework organised around six linked stages: prevention and demand reduction; circular design; circular procurement; construction-stage segregation and control; recovery and quality assurance; and reintegration of secondary materials into new projects. Digital traceability, governance, market development and performance measurement operate across all stages. The framework introduces practical indicators for material efficiency, waste intensity, source segregation, diversion, reuse, recycled content and traceable recovery. Saudi Arabia’s reported rise in national waste diversion from 5% in 2018 to 18% in 2025, alongside a national 90% diversion target by 2040, demonstrates the wider policy direction in which construction circularity must operate. The study concludes that mega-projects can become demand anchors for circular material markets when client specifications, design decisions, contractor controls, recycling infrastructure and digital information systems are aligned. Empirical validation across active Saudi projects is recommended to quantify sector-specific benchmarks and test the proposed indicators.