Environmental Impact Assessment of Construction Waste Recycling versus Disposal Scenarios Using an LCA-BIM Tool during the Design Stage
The scientific community has revealed the environmental benefits of recycling construction waste (CW) versus its disposal, and its contribution to circularity. The Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) method enables the environmental impact of CW management to be quantified and facilitates the comparison of...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2022-11-01
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| Series: | Recycling |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2313-4321/7/6/82 |
| _version_ | 1797455526093651968 |
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| author | Carmen Llatas Rocío Quiñones Nuria Bizcocho |
| author_facet | Carmen Llatas Rocío Quiñones Nuria Bizcocho |
| author_sort | Carmen Llatas |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The scientific community has revealed the environmental benefits of recycling construction waste (CW) versus its disposal, and its contribution to circularity. The Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) method enables the environmental impact of CW management to be quantified and facilitates the comparison of recycling versus alternative disposal scenarios. However, due to its complexity, LCA is seldom used by technicians during the design phase, which constitutes a crucial stage in the prevention of environmental impacts. This paper therefore proposes an LCA-based tool, integrated into the Building Information Modelling (BIM) methodology, that helps designers to automate the environmental assessment of recycling versus disposal. The CW-LCA-BIM tool uses impact factors obtained from an LCA model applied to CW and was applied to the structural system of a building in Spain. Up to 99% of the non-hazardous waste was recyclable or reusable. The management of three types of recyclable waste was assessed: concrete (27.2 t), plastics (4.2 t), and steel (1.5 t). Recycling is shown to be the best option since it prevents 1.4 times (14.6 t) the emissions of the disposal scenario and saves 85 times (148.5 GJ) its energy consumption. This tool can be developed in other waste management systems and infrastructures. It can be useful both for designers for the reduction of the environmental impact of their buildings, and for policy managers for waste-prevention policies. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-09T15:54:35Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-82d5403c57ed49849fc6fdaad46803a9 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2313-4321 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T15:54:35Z |
| publishDate | 2022-11-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Recycling |
| spelling | doaj.art-82d5403c57ed49849fc6fdaad46803a92023-11-24T17:43:40ZengMDPI AGRecycling2313-43212022-11-01768210.3390/recycling7060082Environmental Impact Assessment of Construction Waste Recycling versus Disposal Scenarios Using an LCA-BIM Tool during the Design StageCarmen Llatas0Rocío Quiñones1Nuria Bizcocho2Instituto Universitario de Arquitectura y Ciencias de la Construcción, Escuela Técnica Superior de Arquitectura, Universidad de Sevilla, Av. de la Reina Mercedes, 2, 41012 Sevilla, SpainInstituto Universitario de Arquitectura y Ciencias de la Construcción, Escuela Técnica Superior de Arquitectura, Universidad de Sevilla, Av. de la Reina Mercedes, 2, 41012 Sevilla, SpainInstituto Universitario de Arquitectura y Ciencias de la Construcción, Escuela Técnica Superior de Arquitectura, Universidad de Sevilla, Av. de la Reina Mercedes, 2, 41012 Sevilla, SpainThe scientific community has revealed the environmental benefits of recycling construction waste (CW) versus its disposal, and its contribution to circularity. The Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) method enables the environmental impact of CW management to be quantified and facilitates the comparison of recycling versus alternative disposal scenarios. However, due to its complexity, LCA is seldom used by technicians during the design phase, which constitutes a crucial stage in the prevention of environmental impacts. This paper therefore proposes an LCA-based tool, integrated into the Building Information Modelling (BIM) methodology, that helps designers to automate the environmental assessment of recycling versus disposal. The CW-LCA-BIM tool uses impact factors obtained from an LCA model applied to CW and was applied to the structural system of a building in Spain. Up to 99% of the non-hazardous waste was recyclable or reusable. The management of three types of recyclable waste was assessed: concrete (27.2 t), plastics (4.2 t), and steel (1.5 t). Recycling is shown to be the best option since it prevents 1.4 times (14.6 t) the emissions of the disposal scenario and saves 85 times (148.5 GJ) its energy consumption. This tool can be developed in other waste management systems and infrastructures. It can be useful both for designers for the reduction of the environmental impact of their buildings, and for policy managers for waste-prevention policies.https://www.mdpi.com/2313-4321/7/6/82Life Cycle Assessment (LCA)construction waste (CW)Building Information Modelling (BIM)environmental impactrecyclingdisposal |
| spellingShingle | Carmen Llatas Rocío Quiñones Nuria Bizcocho Environmental Impact Assessment of Construction Waste Recycling versus Disposal Scenarios Using an LCA-BIM Tool during the Design Stage Recycling Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) construction waste (CW) Building Information Modelling (BIM) environmental impact recycling disposal |
| title | Environmental Impact Assessment of Construction Waste Recycling versus Disposal Scenarios Using an LCA-BIM Tool during the Design Stage |
| title_full | Environmental Impact Assessment of Construction Waste Recycling versus Disposal Scenarios Using an LCA-BIM Tool during the Design Stage |
| title_fullStr | Environmental Impact Assessment of Construction Waste Recycling versus Disposal Scenarios Using an LCA-BIM Tool during the Design Stage |
| title_full_unstemmed | Environmental Impact Assessment of Construction Waste Recycling versus Disposal Scenarios Using an LCA-BIM Tool during the Design Stage |
| title_short | Environmental Impact Assessment of Construction Waste Recycling versus Disposal Scenarios Using an LCA-BIM Tool during the Design Stage |
| title_sort | environmental impact assessment of construction waste recycling versus disposal scenarios using an lca bim tool during the design stage |
| topic | Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) construction waste (CW) Building Information Modelling (BIM) environmental impact recycling disposal |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2313-4321/7/6/82 |
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