Abstract
In China, urban renewal and renovation projects generate a large amount of demolition waste every year, the disposal of which has certain impacts on the environment. Therefore, more effective policies should be implemented for the management of demolition waste. This study combines life cycle assessment (LCA) with life cycle costing (LCC) to analyze the environmental and economic drivers of three different waste disposal scenarios in Guangzhou, China, in the context of carbon trading: S1 (landfilling), S2 (recycled aggregate), and S3 (recycled powder). In this study, the carbon emissions of demolition waste were obtained by LCA, and the carbon emission cost was calculated based on the carbon price in the carbon trading market of Guangdong Province. The LCA results showed that waste recycling can greatly reduce carbon emissions. The results showed that compared to S1, S2 reduced 6.790 × 108 kg CO2 eq. Additionally, S3 reduced 4.172 × 108 kg CO2 eq. compared to S2. The LCC results show that waste recycling can greatly reduce the total costs of the demolition sector, while the production of recycled powder can generate 57.35% of the revenue from recycled aggregate to the recycling plant. This study combines LCA and LCC, and considers environmental factors to assess the economic results using carbon emissions cost, thereby forging a new exploration method in the field of life cycle theory. The findings of this study could provide a basis for the formulation of a new demolition waste management policy. In the case of the gradual implementation of carbon trading, it could also provide new ideas for current demolition waste treatment from economic and environmental perspectives.
Highlights
IntroductionClimate change is closely related to human production and life
Global warming is intensifying, and climate change is closely related to human production and life
Construction and demolition waste (CDW) refer to the waste generated during the construction and demolition of buildings, usually including concrete, brick, tile, wood, and glass
Summary
Climate change is closely related to human production and life. China produces an enormous amount of carbon emissions and is under great pressure to reduce them. A large amount of demolition waste is used as roadbed or filling materials for road construction [7]. In addition to road construction, the most extensive recycling method is the use of recycled aggregate for concrete production, which is a more advanced approach than road construction [8]. In the Lisbon area, this method of waste recycling has reduced the use of natural aggregate, increasing the economic value of recycled aggregate [9]. In China, the cost of producing recycled aggregate is likely to be higher than that of the natural aggregate because of the high costs of energy consumption, machines, etc. More detailed studies are required to evaluate the economic feasibility of producing recycled aggregate
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