point made by analysing the best practice and the application of Life Cycle
approach.
Regarding legislative improvements, it is important to suggest:
(1) to look at quality rather than quantity: value the best material to be recycled in
terms of effectiveness and sustainability, not heavier ones; through the separation of recycling targets (percentage well-defined for every type of waste
material) related to the quality target;
(2) to improve the waste hierarchy: support decisions of the type of recovery with
an assessment of quality of recovery, in term of environmental and economical
sustainability (support by LCA and LCC). As well as to promote upcycling
directions;
(3) to reassess the inclusion of some actions considered in the percentage (70%) of
recycling rate: “backfilling” (is a low quality recycling) and “preparing for
re-use” (this is only storage of material to check, clean or for repair recovery
operations, until the real recovery stage).
With regard to non-legislative action of local authorities, that is useful to
improve the sustainable local waste management, they should follow these
guidelines:
(1) to improve selective demolition, which helps prepare for the reuse process;
(2) to use restrictive pre-demolition audit in order to have the information about the
consistency and quality of material; to evaluate the environmental impact with
LCA and the market opportunities with LCC approach before deconstruct a
building. This information is important to make a decision of end-of-life stage,
to drive resource efficiency and effectiveness of refurbishment and demolition
projects. Thus preventing unnecessary waste and maximizing the value and
sustainable use of construction and demolition waste;
(3) to use mandatory building passport and material passport (for new construction): encouraging the use of Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) in
order to facilitate the assessment of construction products and material sustainability, promoting recycled material. One of the current problems is the high
application of composite materials (not recyclable at end-of-life) used due to
their high thermal performance in energy-efficient buildings or due to their
recycled content.
(4) to apply mandatory environmental criteria in GPP on waste management: to
improve waste recovery and sustainability of buildings through building
benchmark LCA based in the assignment of public procurements.
To overcome the obstacles created by the lack of consumer and operator
awareness is fundamental:
(1) to increase skills and knowledge: to eliminate the lack of confidence in the
quality of materials from recycled construction and demolition waste;
(2) to support professional training of the operators within the demolition sector;
Guidelines for Effective and Sustainable …
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approach.
Regarding legislative improvements, it is important to suggest:
(1) to look at quality rather than quantity: value the best material to be recycled in
terms of effectiveness and sustainability, not heavier ones; through the separation of recycling targets (percentage well-defined for every type of waste
material) related to the quality target;
(2) to improve the waste hierarchy: support decisions of the type of recovery with
an assessment of quality of recovery, in term of environmental and economical
sustainability (support by LCA and LCC). As well as to promote upcycling
directions;
(3) to reassess the inclusion of some actions considered in the percentage (70%) of
recycling rate: “backfilling” (is a low quality recycling) and “preparing for
re-use” (this is only storage of material to check, clean or for repair recovery
operations, until the real recovery stage).
With regard to non-legislative action of local authorities, that is useful to
improve the sustainable local waste management, they should follow these
guidelines:
(1) to improve selective demolition, which helps prepare for the reuse process;
(2) to use restrictive pre-demolition audit in order to have the information about the
consistency and quality of material; to evaluate the environmental impact with
LCA and the market opportunities with LCC approach before deconstruct a
building. This information is important to make a decision of end-of-life stage,
to drive resource efficiency and effectiveness of refurbishment and demolition
projects. Thus preventing unnecessary waste and maximizing the value and
sustainable use of construction and demolition waste;
(3) to use mandatory building passport and material passport (for new construction): encouraging the use of Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) in
order to facilitate the assessment of construction products and material sustainability, promoting recycled material. One of the current problems is the high
application of composite materials (not recyclable at end-of-life) used due to
their high thermal performance in energy-efficient buildings or due to their
recycled content.
(4) to apply mandatory environmental criteria in GPP on waste management: to
improve waste recovery and sustainability of buildings through building
benchmark LCA based in the assignment of public procurements.
To overcome the obstacles created by the lack of consumer and operator
awareness is fundamental:
(1) to increase skills and knowledge: to eliminate the lack of confidence in the
quality of materials from recycled construction and demolition waste;
(2) to support professional training of the operators within the demolition sector;
Guidelines for Effective and Sustainable …
219