Abstract
The production of waste is increasing yearly and, without a viable recycle or reutilization solution, waste is sent to landfills, where it can take thousand to years to degrade. Simultaneously, for the production of new materials, some industries continue to ignore the potential of wastes and keep on using natural resources for production. The incorporation of waste materials in mortars is a possible solution to avoid landfilling, through their recycling or reutilization. However, no evaluation of their “sustainability” in terms of environmental performance is available in the literature. In this sense, in this research a life cycle assessment was performed on mortars, namely renders, with incorporation of industrials wastes replacing sand and/or cement. For that purpose, eight environmental impact categories (abiotic depletion potential, global warming potential, ozone depletion potential, photochemical ozone creation potential, acidification potential, eutrophication potential, use of non-renewable primary energy resources, and use of renewable primary energy resources) within a “cradle to gate” boundary were analyzed for 19 mortars with incorporation of several industrial wastes: sanitary ware, glass fiber reinforced polymer, forest biomass ashes, and textile fibers. Sixteen out of the 19 mortars under analysis presented, in all environmental impact categories, an equal or better environment performance than a common mortar (used as a reference). The benefits in some environmental impacts were over 20%.
Highlights
Waste management is a current issue in society
The life cycle impact was assessed through the analysis of eight environmental impact categories required for Environmental Product Declarations (EPD) by EN 15804 [15]: Abiotic depletion potential, global warming potential (GWP), ozone depletion potential (ODP), photochemical ozone creation potential (POCP), acidification potential of land and water (AP), eutrophication potential (EP), use of non-renewable primary energy resources (PE-NRe), and use of renewable primary energy resources (PE-Re)
The SW and GFRP wastes were the ones that replaced the greater volume of sand; all the mortars that contained these wastes improved their performance in this impact category
Summary
Waste management is a current issue in society. The amount of waste produced yearly is increasing and, without a viable solution of reutilization or recycling, waste is sent directly to landfills. The incorporation of wastes as by-products can reduce the environmental impacts of the new materials. They can replace natural resources and, at the same time, be an alternative to landfilling. The incorporation of waste materials in concrete or mortars is a possible solution for waste recycling or reutilization. Cement is the one that contributes the most to the environmental impacts of concrete production [3,4]. The replacement of natural aggregate, fine or coarse, in a concrete mix, at a different scale, can contribute to a reduction of the environmental impacts in some categories [5,6]. This assessment will allow identifying and quantifying the environmental benefits of the incorporation of these industrial wastes in renders
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