From Buildings’ End of Life to Aggregate Recycling under a Circular Economic Perspective: A Comparative Life Cycle Assessment Case Study

Ambroise Lachat, Konstantinos Mantalovas, Tiffany Desbois, Oumaya Yazoghli-Marzouk, Anne-Sophie Colas, Gaetano Di Mino and Adélaïde Feraille
Additional contact information
Ambroise Lachat: Lab Navier, Ecole des Ponts, University Gustave Eiffel, CNRS, 6-8 Av. B. Pascal, MLV CEDEX 2, F-77455 Champs-sur-Marne, France
Konstantinos Mantalovas: Dipartimento di Ingegneria, Università degli Studi di Palermo, 90128 Palermo, Italy
Tiffany Desbois: Cerema, Direction Ouest, 5 Rue Jules Vallès, F-22000 Saint-Brieuc, France
Oumaya Yazoghli-Marzouk: Cerema, Direction Centre Est, Agence Autun, Boulevard Giberstein, BP 141, F-71405 Autun, France
Anne-Sophie Colas: GERS-RRO, University Gustave Eiffel, IFSTTAR, University Lyon, F-69675 Lyon, France
Gaetano Di Mino: Dipartimento di Ingegneria, Università degli Studi di Palermo, 90128 Palermo, Italy
Adélaïde Feraille: Lab Navier, Ecole des Ponts, University Gustave Eiffel, CNRS, 6-8 Av. B. Pascal, MLV CEDEX 2, F-77455 Champs-sur-Marne, France

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 17, 1-25

Abstract: The demolition of buildings, apart from being energy intensive and disruptive, inevitably produces construction and demolition waste (C&Dw). Unfortunately, even today, the majority of this waste ends up underexploited and not considered as valuable resources to be re-circulated into a closed/open loop process under the umbrella of circular economy (CE). Considering the amount of virgin aggregates needed in civil engineering applications, C&Dw can act as sustainable catalyst towards the preservation of natural resources and the shift towards a CE. This study completes current research by presenting a life cycle inventory compilation and life cycle assessment case study of two buildings in France. The quantification of the end-of-life environmental impacts of the two buildings and subsequently the environmental impacts of recycled aggregates production from C&Dw was realized using the framework of life cycle assessment (LCA). The results indicate that the transport of waste, its treatment, and especially asbestos’ treatment are the most impactful phases. For example, in the case study of the first building, transport and treatment of waste reached 35% of the total impact for global warming. Careful, proactive, and strategic treatment, geolocation, and transport planning is recommended for the involved stakeholders and decision makers in order to ensure minimal sustainability implications during the implementation of CE approaches for C&Dw.

Keywords: construction and demolition waste; life cycle assessment; circular economy; recycling; recycled aggregates; end of life; gate-to-grave (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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