Economic and Environmental Assessment of Carbon Emissions from Demolition Waste Based on LCA and LCC

Jingkuang Liu, Zhengjie Huang and Xuetong Wang
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Jingkuang Liu: School of Management, Guangzhou University, Guangzhou 510006, China
Zhengjie Huang: School of Management, Guangzhou University, Guangzhou 510006, China
Xuetong Wang: School of Management, Guangzhou University, Guangzhou 510006, China

Sustainability, 2020, vol. 12, issue 16, 1-21

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 × 10 8 kg CO 2 eq. Additionally, S3 reduced 4.172 × 10 8 kg CO 2 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.

Keywords: demolition waste; recycling; carbon emissions; environmental assessment; LCA (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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