Management of Construction Waste: LCA and Complex System Modeling

Construction and demolition waste (CDW) generation, identified as a priority stream by the European Commission, accounts for approximately 25 to 30% of all waste generated in the European Union. According to local specificities (e.g. regulations, waste management organization) best environmental options may differ for transforming waste into new resources. Five oral presentations were given in the session which focused on innovative modelling initiatives combining LCA with complex models in order to improve knowledge for more sustainable urban construction waste management. During the discussions, all participants agreed that re-use or recycling mass performance is a weak and unsufficient indicator for assessing waste management systems. There is an important need for better characterizing stocks and predicting nature and quality of output flows. Geospatialized data combined with Material Flow Analysis was the methodology identified and used by the research community.