Construction and demolition waste (CDW) accounts for 30% to 40% of the total amount of waste in China. CDW is usually randomly dumped or disposed in landfills and the average recycling rate of CDW in China is only about 5%. Considering there is big challenge in adoption of circular economy in CDW industry in China while related research is still limited, we conduct the CDW management analysis through 3R principle. Existing policies and management situations were investigated and analyzed based on the reduction, reuse and recycle principles. Results reveal that primary barriers of reducing CDW in China include lack of building design standard for reducing CDW, low cost for CDW disposal and inappropriate urban planning. Barriers to reuse CDW include lack of guidance for effective CDW collection and sorting, lack of knowledge and standard for reused CDW, and an under-developed market for reused CDW. As for recycling of CDW, key challenges are identified as ineffective management system, immature recycling technology, under-developed market for recycled CDW products and immature recycling market operation. Proposals to improve the current situation based on 3R principle are also proposed, including designing effective circular economy model, reinforcing the source control of CDW, adopting innovative technologies and market models, and implementing targeted economic incentives.

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Construction and demolition waste management in China through the 3R principle

https://energyinnovation.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/system-dynamics1.pdf

System dynamics modeling for urban energy consumption and CO2 emissions: A case study of Beijing, China

Exploring environmental and economic costs and benefits of a circular economy approach to the construction and demolition sector. A literature review

Quantifying construction and demolition waste: An analytical review

Construction and demolition wastes (CDW) have increasingly serious problems in environmental, social, and economic realms. There is no coherent framework for utilization of these wastes which are disposed both legally and illegally. This harms the environment, contributes to the increase of energy consumption, and depletes finite landfills resources. The aim of this paper is to evaluate the impacts of two alternatives for the management of CDW, recycling and disposing. The evaluation is carried out through developing a dynamic model with aid STELLA software by conducting the following steps: (1) quantifying the total cost incurred to mitigate the impacts of CDW landfills and uncollected waste on the environment and human health; (2) quantifying the total avoided emissions and saved energy by recycling waste; (3) estimating total external cost saved by recycling waste and; (4) providing a decision support tool that helps in re-thinking about waste disposal. The proposed evaluation methodology allows activating the stringent regulations that restrict waste disposal and developing incentives to encourage constructors to recycle their wastes. The research findings show that recycling CDW leads to significant reductions in emissions, energy use, global warming potential (GWP), and conserves landfills space when compared to disposal of wastes in landfills. Furthermore, the cost of mitigating the impact of disposal is extremely high. Therefore, it is necessary to recycle construction and demolition wastes.

Environmental and economic impact assessment of construction and demolition waste disposal using system dynamics

In the recycling chain of construction and demolition waste, it is impossible to guarantee a certain quality of recycled products and to recycle a large amount of materials in recycling centers without mechanical sorting facilities. This counts even more when the produced materials have a low economic value, as is the case with crushed and cleaned debris, also called aggregates. In order to assess if recycling can be done effectively, a feasibility study of the recycling of construction and demolition (C&D) waste is necessary. In the paper, the economic feasibility of recycling facilities for C&D waste in China's Chongqing city was assessed. Investigations on the current situation of C&D waste recycling in Chongqing showed that there were a large quantity of waste and an enormous demand for recycled materials due to the busy ongoing construction activities, which generated a large market potential and also brought a challenge to the strengthening of the recycling sector. However, a full cost calculation and an investment analysis showed that, under current market conditions, operating C&D waste recycling centers in Chongqing might face high investment risks. Thus, the regulations and economic instruments like tax that can support the economic feasibility of recycling are discussed, and the recommendations for the choice of instruments are provided.

Evaluation of the economic feasibility for the recycling of construction and demolition waste in China—The case of Chongqing

This paper presents a system dynamics computer model to evaluate alternative type of recycling center under different policy and economy environments through comparison on the economic feasibility of recycling centers and ratio of savings to costs in CD (b) unit recycling cost; (c) extra revenue from location advantage (It was assumed that the mobile centers can attain extra revenue from the location advantage compared with fixed recycling centers). The sensitive analysis and comparison on ratios between public and private sector indicate that to achieve the optimum ratio of savings to costs, design of recycling centers and selection of governmental instruments are determined by the priority list: (1) low extra revenue from location advantage; (2) low profit; (3) low unit recycling cost. Meanwhile, the fluctuation of the three factors must be prior to achieve economic feasibility of corresponding recycling centers.

W. Zhao

Papers

Evaluation of the economic feasibility for the recycling of construction and demolition waste in China—The case of Chongqing

A system dynamics model for evaluating the alternative of type in construction and demolition waste recycling center – The case of Chongqing, China