Construction waste management remains one of the pivotal and widely discussed topics within the construction industry. The global demographic surge, escalating land scarcity, and mounting demand for new housing, amenities, and infrastructure. While it necessitates a vast amount of material and energy inputs, imposing intense strain on natural resources. As a dominant consumer of these resources, the construction sector is often criticized for its High-volume generation of construction waste, which adversely degrades the environment, affecting human health, aquatic biodiversity, and air quality. This study aimed to identify the main factors in construction workflows that lead to waste in public infrastructure projects in Visakhapatnam, India. A mixed-method approach is used, combining a quantitative survey (N = 80), interviews, and an extensive literature review to analyze projects managed by the public construction organization. The reliability test of the questionnaire showed Cronbach's Alpha values between 0.83 and 0.86. Data were collected from key stakeholders such as site engineers, contractors, and project managers. The descriptive analysis revealed that inefficiencies are common across all seven workflow areas examined, with average scores ranging from 3.75 to 4.14 on a five-point scale. The main factors contributing to waste are Workforce & Skills (M = 4.14) and Design & Documentation (M = 4.07), highlighting issues such as skill shortages, communication gaps, design errors, poor coordination, and frequent changes in order as primary causes of waste. The analysis also shows that the adoption of lean construction strategies and practices is limited in public projects. A multiple regression analysis was conducted to assess the direct impact of these factors on the implementation of lean practices. The results indicate that Design & Documentation is the only significant factor (B = 0.297, p<0.05) influencing a project’s ability to adopt lean principles. This emphasizes that resolving design-related issues is crucial for the successful implementation of lean construction methods, thereby maximizing value and minimizing waste. The study offers practical recommendations to address these factors through lean construction principles. Key strategies include strengthening the design and planning phases to reduce errors and changes; improving on-site supervision and workforce skills through targeted training; and implementing structured material management and waste recycling systems. Consequently, this study provides a structured framework for public authorities and practitioners to improve project efficiency, maximize value, and minimize waste through collaboration and continuous improvement.