RESUMO
Construction waste is generated during construction and remodelling undertakings. Construction waste management (CWM) is a challenge in developing countries such as Brazil. Thus, it is necessary to create tools by which CWM may be evaluated. This article presents the elaboration of a tool to assess CWM in Brazilian cities; moreover, this method facilitates such analyses in regions which lack substantial quantitative data. In doing so, the tool, known as the Assessment Index for Construction Waste Management (ICWM), combines quantitative and qualitative information and is composed of 49 indicators and 19 criteria divided into the following groups: operational; environmental; politico-economic, educational; and social. The analytic hierarchy process was used to assign the weights attributed to the groups and criteria to build the index. The indicators were measured according to a standardized rating scale proposed for each one. These elements were aggregated in a mathematical formula that enables the calculation of the ICWM. The aggregation method used was a weighted linear combination, and the index is rated on a 0 to 1 scale. The ICWM was tested in four municipalities. In all cases, the management was considered inefficient. The proposed tool proved to be effective in evaluating the CWM. In cities where the ICWM was tested, it was possible to identify the significant deficiencies of the CWM and recommend improvement actions to develop more efficient and sustainable management.
Assuntos
Eliminação de Resíduos , Gerenciamento de Resíduos , Brasil , Cidades , Resíduos SólidosRESUMO
Brazil, as a result of economic development and strengthening of the construction industry in recent years, is generating an increasing amount of construction and demolition waste (CDW). Hence, environmental assessment of the management systems is vital. A life cycle assessment (LCA) is presented of CDW management in a medium-sized municipality located in the southeast region of Brazil, where the impacts of leaching were not considered due to absence of consistent data. Six different proposed scenarios for the current CDW management situation have been considered. These scenarios comprised the combined use of landfilling, sorting, and recycling, and the use of CDW as paving material for landfill roads, in different percentages. Considering 0.8 ton of waste as the functional unit, the life cycle inventory was performed using primary data obtained from field survey and secondary data from the database Ecoinvent version 3.1, and from the literature. The method CML 2 baseline 2001 was used for environmental impacts evaluation. The results highlight that recycling is beneficial when efficient CDW sorting takes place at construction sites, avoiding the transport of refuse to sorting and recycling facilities, and the distance between the generation source and the recycling unit is within 30 km. Thus, our results are helpful to ensure that the decision-making processes are based on environmental and technical aspects, and not only on economic and political factors, and also provide data and support for other LCA studies on CDW.