Title

Evaluating Environmental Impacts Of Alternative Construction Waste Management Approaches Using Supply-Chain-Linked Life-Cycle Analysis

Keywords

Construction waste management; environmental footprint; hybrid life-cycle assessment; supply chain; sustainability; US buildings

Abstract

Waste management in construction is critical for the sustainable treatment of building-related construction and demolition (C&D) waste materials, and recycling of these wastes has been considered as one of the best strategies in minimization of C&D debris. However, recycling of C&D materials may not always be a feasible strategy for every waste type and therefore recycling and other waste treatment strategies should be supported by robust decision-making models. With the aim of assessing the net carbon, energy, and water footprints of C&D recycling and other waste management alternatives, a comprehensive economic input-output-based hybrid life-cycle assessment model is developed by tracing all of the economy-wide supply-chain impacts of three waste management strategies: recycling, landfilling, and incineration. Analysis results showed that only the recycling of construction materials provided positive environmental footprint savings in terms of carbon, energy, and water footprints. Incineration is a better option as a secondary strategy after recycling for water and energy footprint categories, whereas landfilling is found to be as slightly better strategy when carbon footprint is considered as the main focus of comparison. In terms of construction materials' environmental footprint, nonferrous metals are found to have a significant environmental footprint reduction potential if recycled. © The Author(s) 2014.

Publication Date

1-1-2014

Publication Title

Waste Management and Research

Volume

32

Issue

6

Number of Pages

500-508

Document Type

Article

Personal Identifier

scopus

DOI Link

https://doi.org/10.1177/0734242X14536457

Socpus ID

84904764030 (Scopus)

Source API URL

https://api.elsevier.com/content/abstract/scopus_id/84904764030

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