Estimating the Carbon Emission of Construction Waste Recycling Using Grey Model and Life Cycle Assessment: A Case Study of Shanghai

Ting Wang, Kaiyi Li, Defu Liu, Yang Yang and Dong Wu
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Ting Wang: College of Urban Construction and Safety Engineering, Shanghai Institute of Technology, Shanghai 201418, China
Kaiyi Li: Key Laboratory of Environmental Pollution Monitoring and Disease Control, Ministry of Education, Guizhou Medical University, Guizhou 550001, China
Defu Liu: Shanghai Construction No. 4 (Group) Co., Ltd., Shanghai 201103, China
Yang Yang: Department of Building and Real Estate, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong SAR, China
Dong Wu: Key Laboratory of Environmental Pollution Monitoring and Disease Control, Ministry of Education, Guizhou Medical University, Guizhou 550001, China

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 14, 1-16

Abstract: Great efforts have been exerted in reducing carbon emissions in design, construction and operation stages. However, little attention is paid to the quantification of carbon emissions in construction waste recycling at the end-of-life stage. This study aims to quantitatively analyze the carbon emission of construction waste in Shanghai City, PR China. A grey model is used to forecast the generation amount of construction waste, and a life cycle assessment is performed to estimate the carbon emission of construction waste. In this study, both the carbon emission of recycling activities (environmental costs), and the equivalent amount of carbon generated from alternative materials (environmental benefit) are considered. Here, recycling 1 ton (t) of construction waste in Shanghai can save 100.4 kg CO 2 −e. The total carbon-emission-saving potential can be increased from 0.31 million t CO 2 −e (2022) to 0.35 million t CO 2 −e (2031). The carbon emission of recycling concrete, brick, steel, wood and mortar, identified as the key components of construction waste, is investigated. This research can help to reduce carbon emissions and further achieve carbon neutrality for Shanghai City. The proposed methods can also be applied to other regions, especially when the data for construction waste are insufficient.

Keywords: construction waste management; generation amount; resource recycling; emission abatement; China (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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