Nineteenth International Conference on Environmental, Cultural, Economic & Social Sustainability

Abstract

The daily demand for natural resources for domestic and industrial usage is rising at an alarming rate, particularly in urban areas due to rapid population expansion, economic development, and industrialization. As a result, the sustainability of the ecosystems is being threatened by the disturbance of the normal cycles of land resources. One of the environmental catastrophes that many cities are experiencing because of urbanization is the high generation rate of Construction and Demolition Waste (C&DW). India is reported to produce 530MT of C&DW annually, and its scientific recycling or disposal is vital in reducing environmental consequences and unauthorized dumping. The primary goals of this study are to find out the minimum distance for locating an intermediate transfer station to minimize the environmental load of C&DW management processes and to examine the impact of decreasing coal consumption for the electricity mix using Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and Life Cycle Costing (LCC) analysis. Four models for C&DW management scenarios are developed and evaluated. The scenarios are: ‘Landfilling’, ‘Recycling without Transfer Station’, ‘Recycling with Transfer Station’, and ‘Onsite Recycling’. The ‘ReCiPe’ life cycle impact assessment approach is used to examine the potential environmental consequences. The economic cost-benefit analysis was carried out using Net Present Value and Internal Rate of Return indicators. The preliminary analysis shows that transfer stations should be located within a radius of 8km from the recycling plant and the electricity mix has very minimal impact on the overall environmental load.