title: Life cycle assessment of the end-of-life phase of a residential building.
abstract: The study investigates the potential environmental impacts related to the end-of-life phase of a residential building, identified in a multifamily dwelling of three levels, constructed in the South of Italy by utilizing conventional materials and up-to-date procedures. An attributional life cycle assessment has been utilised to quantify the contributions of each stage of the end-of-life phase, with a particular attention to the management of the demolition waste. The investigation takes into account the selective demolition, preliminary sorting and collection of main components of the building, together with the processes of sorting, recycling and/or disposal of main fractions of the demolition waste. It quantifies the connections between these on-site and off-site processes as well as the main streams of materials sent to recycling, energy recovery, and final disposal. A sensitivity analysis has been eventually carried out by comparing the overall environmental performances of some alternative scenarios, characterised by different criteria for the demolition of the reference building, management of demolition waste and assessment of avoided burdens of the main recycled materials. The results quantify the advantage of an appropriate technique of selective demolition, which could increase the quality and quantity of residues sent to the treatment of resource recovery and safe disposal. They also highlight the contributions to the positive or negative environmental impact of each stage of the investigated waste management system. The recycling of reinforcing steel appears to play a paramount role, accounting for 65% of the total avoided impacts related to respiratory inorganics, 89% of those for global warming and 73% of those for mineral extraction.
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental, Biological, Pharmaceutical Sciences and Technologies - Second University of Naples, Via Vivaldi, 43, 81100 Caserta, Italy.
authors.forename: Pierluca
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Vitale
authors.affiliation: Centre for Environment and Sustainability - University of Surrey, GU2 7XH Guildford, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Noemi
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Arena
authors.affiliation: AMRA s.c.a r.l. - Analysis and Monitoring of Environmental Risk, Via Nuova Agnano, 11, 80125 Napoli, Italy.
authors.forename: Fabrizio
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Di Gregorio
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental, Biological, Pharmaceutical Sciences and Technologies - Second University of Naples, Via Vivaldi, 43, 81100 Caserta, Italy; AMRA s.c.a r.l. - Analysis and Monitoring of Environmental Risk, Via Nuova Agnano, 11, 80125 Napoli, Italy. Electronic address: umberto.arena@unina2.it.
authors.forename: Umberto
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Arena
mesh_terms: D003252:Construction Materials / Q000032:analysis*; D006798:Housing; D007558:Italy; D059027:Recycling; D012037:Refuse Disposal; D062611:Solid Waste / Q000032:analysis*; D018505:Waste Management
chemical_list: D062611:Solid Waste
keywords: Construction and demolition waste; Life cycle assessment; Recycling; Resource recovery; Selective demolition