Abstract
Buildings exposed to water can release undesirable substances which, once transported to environmental compartments, may cause unwanted effects. These exposure pathways need to be investigated and included in risk assessments to safeguard water quality and promote the sustainability of construction materials. The applied materials, exposure conditions, distribution routes and resilience of receiving compartments vary considerably. This demonstrates the need for a consistent concept that integrates knowledge of emission sources, leaching processes, transport pathways, and effects on targets. Such a consistent concept can serve as the basis for environmental risk assessment for several scenarios using experimentally determined emissions. Typically, a source–path–target concept integrates data from standardized leaching tests and models to describe leaching processes, the distribution of substances in the environment and the occurrence of substances at different points of compliance. This article presents an integrated concept for assessing the environmental impact of construction products on aquatic systems and unravels currently existing gaps and necessary actions. This manuscript outlines a source–path–target concept applicable to a large variety of construction products. It is intended to highlight key elements of a holistic evaluation concept that could assist authorities in developing procedures for environmental risk assessments and mitigation measures and identifying knowledge gaps.
Highlights
Regulations have been developed to assess and minimize harmful emissions from construction products. Implementing these in practice is challenging for several reasons: (a) leaching processes and emissions patterns of substances are very complex and dynamic, (b) regulations encompass a wide variety of products and applications under different conditions across Europe and (c) decisions on the approval of construction products must be based on sound concepts
As this basis is similar for subjects belonging to different policy fields, the approach can lead to a more holistic method, that is consistent over these fields
The conceptual framework for an environmental impact assessment is summarized in Figure 9 and consists of a set of tools and methods
Summary
Sustainable building includes the proactive use of environmentally friendly construction products with a low environmental footprint during production, service life and end of life. The source term of the scenario is described by the leaching behaviour of a substance from a construction product, preferably based on standardized laboratory leaching tests. These tests provide information on the intrinsic leaching properties of the material. The approach is based on experiences from different disciplines like material and environmental sciences, mathematics and simulations addressing the leaching of substances from construction products into soil and surface water. This approach addresses dissolved inorganic and organic substances and ignores particles, particle-bound substances and microplastic. Studies are mostly performed by manufacturers and researchers and used in standardization mandates
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