Life Cycle Assessment as a tool for the improvement of a regional construction and demolition waste (CDW) management system
Lucia Rigamonti
Politecnico di Milano
Lucia Rigamonti is an environmental engineer graduated at Politecnico di Milano (Italy) in 2003 cum laude. In 2007 she completed her PhD in Sanitary and Environmental Engineering with a thesis on the topic of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) applied to different integrated municipal solid waste management systems. She is a senior researcher at the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (DICA) of Politecnico di Milano. She is professor for the university courses ‘Phenomena of pollution’ and ‘Sanitary - environmental engineering’. In 2013 she spent three months at the Scion Research Center (Rotorua, New Zealand) and in 2015 two months at the University of Queensland (Brisbane, Australia). She has authored over 140 publications, including more than 30 on ISI/SCOPUS journals. She coordinates the working groups ‘DIRE (Development and Improvement of LCA methodology: Research and Exchange of experiences)’ and ‘Waste management and treatment’ of the LCA Italian network. Her research interests include: waste management and treatment, waste prevention, life cycle thinking approach, industrial symbiosis, sustainable use of resources and sustainable consumption.
Abstract
In recent years, the European Commission has identified construction and demolition waste (CDW) as a priority waste stream due to the huge amount annually generated and the high potential for resource recovery through... [ view full abstract ]
In recent years, the European Commission has identified construction and demolition waste (CDW) as a priority waste stream due to the huge amount annually generated and the high potential for resource recovery through appropriate management and recycling. Most of CDW is non-hazardous and includes inert materials, such as concrete, bricks, asphalt, plasterboards, excavated soils and stones, with a high potential for being recycled and used as secondary materials in civil and road construction projects and/or in manufacturing of new products. Public authorities and municipalities in European countries are currently facing the challenges of improving own CDW management system to meet the recovery target set by Waste Directive 2008/98/CE (i.e. 70% of CDW by 2020) and to lower the overall environmental impacts of this sector.
In the present research project, funded by Regione Lombardia which is the authority in charge for waste management planning, the overall environmental performances of the CDW management system currently implemented in the region have been evaluated through the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology.
First of all, the mass balance of the whole CDW management system implemented in Lombardy Region in the year 2014 was assessed based on official regional data. Then, technical visits at some selected CDW recycling facilities were carried out in order to define the level of recovery technologies and to collect primary operational data. The quality of secondary products obtained from CDW recycling and their actual use were also investigated in order to evaluate the type and amount of “avoided materials” that can be replaced by the recycled products, as well as to identify current obstacles and potential drivers to recycling. Based on LCA results of the current CDW management situation and on the state-of-the-art treatment technologies, possible alternative CDW management strategies and/or alternative recovery solutions were identified. These alternative scenarios were evaluated from a life cycle perspective and compared with the current scenario in order to quantify the benefits arising from the suggested improving actions and to formulate recommendations for regional authorities.
Authors
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Lucia Rigamonti
(Politecnico di Milano)
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Sara Pantini
(Politecnico di Milano)
Topic Area
• Management and technology for sustainable and resilient energy, water, food, materials,
Session
WS-16 » Multi-level socio-economic metabolism studies (13:45 - Wednesday, 28th June, Room G)
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