Lifecycle assessment on construction and demolition waste management-an Indian case study

Generation of construction & demolition (C&D) waste is increasing while management of it is a global issue. This study presents the case of Coimbatore, a city in India which lacks C&D waste processing facilities. Lifecycle assessment (LCA) being a crucial tool for analyzing and making decisions pertaining to environmental issues, LCA is employed to assess the environmental impacts of C&D waste management practices in the chosen study area and find alternate solutions. Thus, various scenarios are developed: S1-Current Scenario (present and future case), S2-Recycling scenario and S3-Recycling along with inclusion of transfer station and environmental impacts are assessed. LCA results show that scenario S3- Recycling along with transfer station is the most appropriate case for handling C&D waste in the study region. Impact reduction of around 220–158% are observed with respect to “human health and ecosystem quality” categories respectively along with 165% reduction in “climate change” and 134% reduction in “resources depletion” when compared to current landfilling scenario. Sensitivity analysis is also done by varying parameters like transportation distances, electricity and diesel consumption, results showed that the transportation distance has more influence on the outcome. Thus, inclusion of transfer station and construction of C&D waste recycling plant is highly recommended in the study area for proper C&D waste management.