Construction and demolition waste is a major source of municipal solid waste that is still increasing rapidly due to the growth of population and irreversible urbanization in many countries and regions. Unfortunately, the majority of waste is disposed of at landfills at present and thus takes up substantial land space and results in huge waste of natural resources. In the context of more and more emphasis on sustainable development, energy saving has drawn great attention from various stakeholders. This research has (1) compared and analyzed different treatment methods (reuse, recycle, landfill) for common kinds of construction waste including asphalt, brick, concrete, drywall, glass, steel, aluminium, plastic and wood and (2) proposed an energy consumption calculation method re...[ Read more ]

Construction and demolition waste is a major source of municipal solid waste that is still increasing rapidly due to the growth of population and irreversible urbanization in many countries and regions. Unfortunately, the majority of waste is disposed of at landfills at present and thus takes up substantial land space and results in huge waste of natural resources. In the context of more and more emphasis on sustainable development, energy saving has drawn great attention from various stakeholders. This research has (1) compared and analyzed different treatment methods (reuse, recycle, landfill) for common kinds of construction waste including asphalt, brick, concrete, drywall, glass, steel, aluminium, plastic and wood and (2) proposed an energy consumption calculation method regarding waste management, considering the embodied energy of construction waste, energy consumption in the transportation, equipment productivity, energy consumption in the landfill process, and the embodied energy of recycled products and substitute products.

It is found that reusing is the best way to save energy although it is applied only to a small portion of waste at the present and recycling is better than landfilling in terms of the energy loss. Outputs of this study would facilitate various parties involved in the construction waste management chain in choosing appropriate waste treatment methods, with an aim to create a sustainable built environment.