Is Recycling Always the Best Option? Environmental Assessment of Recycling of Seashell as Aggregates in Noise Barriers
Waste recycling is an essential part of waste management. The concrete industry allows the use of large quantities of waste as a substitute for a conventional raw material without sacrificing the technical properties of the product. From a circular economy point of view, this is an excellent opportu...
| Authors: | ; ; ; |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Status: | Published version |
| Publication date: | 2020 |
| Country: | España |
| Institution: | Universidad de Sevilla (US) |
| Repository: | idUS. Depósito de Investigación de la Universidad de Sevilla |
| OAI Identifier: | oai:idus.us.es:11441/143375 |
| Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/11441/143375 https://doi.org/10.3390/pr8070776 |
| Access Level: | Open access |
| Keyword: | Life cycle assessment Circular economy Environmental sustainability Mollusk shell Porous concrete Construction |
| _version_ | 1878742610383732736 |
|---|---|
| author | Peceño, Begoña |
| author2 | Leiva Fernández, Carlos Alonso-Fariñas, Bernabé Gallego-Schmid, Alejandro |
| author2_role | author author author |
| author_browse | Alonso-Fariñas, Bernabé Gallego-Schmid, Alejandro Leiva Fernández, Carlos Peceño, Begoña |
| author_facet | Peceño, Begoña Leiva Fernández, Carlos Alonso-Fariñas, Bernabé Gallego-Schmid, Alejandro |
| author_role | author |
| collection | idUS. Depósito de Investigación de la Universidad de Sevilla |
| description | Waste recycling is an essential part of waste management. The concrete industry allows the use of large quantities of waste as a substitute for a conventional raw material without sacrificing the technical properties of the product. From a circular economy point of view, this is an excellent opportunity for waste recycling. Nevertheless, in some cases, the recycling process can be undesirable because it does not involve a net saving in resource consumption or other environmental impacts when compared to the conventional production process. In this study, the environmental performance of conventional absorption porous barriers, composed of 86 wt % of natural aggregates and 14 wt % cement, was compared with barriers composed of 80 wt % seashell waste and 20 wt % cement through an attributional cradle-to-grave life cycle assessment. The results show that, for the 11 environmental impact categories considered, the substitution of the natural aggregates with seashell waste involves higher environmental impacts, between 32% and 267%. These results are justified by the high contribution to these impacts of the seashell waste pre-treatment and the higher cement consumption. Therefore, the recycling of seashells in noise barrier manufacturing is not justified from an environmental standpoint with the current conditions. In this sense, it could be concluded that life cycle assessments should be carried out simultaneously with the technical development of the recycling process to ensure a sustainable solution. |
| eu_rights_str_mv | openAccess |
| format | article |
| id | ES_f906f3e162da2de2ca6cad223d9fda8a |
| institution | Universidad de Sevilla (US) |
| instname_str | Universidad de Sevilla (US) |
| network_acronym_str | ES |
| network_name_str | España |
| oai_identifier_str | oai:idus.us.es:11441/143375 |
| publishDate | 2020 |
| publishDateSort | 2020 |
| publisher | MDPI |
| publisherStr | MDPI |
| reponame_str | idUS. Depósito de Investigación de la Universidad de Sevilla |
| spelling | Is Recycling Always the Best Option? Environmental Assessment of Recycling of Seashell as Aggregates in Noise Barriers Peceño, Begoña Leiva Fernández, Carlos Alonso-Fariñas, Bernabé Gallego-Schmid, Alejandro Life cycle assessment Circular economy Environmental sustainability Mollusk shell Porous concrete Construction Waste recycling is an essential part of waste management. The concrete industry allows the use of large quantities of waste as a substitute for a conventional raw material without sacrificing the technical properties of the product. From a circular economy point of view, this is an excellent opportunity for waste recycling. Nevertheless, in some cases, the recycling process can be undesirable because it does not involve a net saving in resource consumption or other environmental impacts when compared to the conventional production process. In this study, the environmental performance of conventional absorption porous barriers, composed of 86 wt % of natural aggregates and 14 wt % cement, was compared with barriers composed of 80 wt % seashell waste and 20 wt % cement through an attributional cradle-to-grave life cycle assessment. The results show that, for the 11 environmental impact categories considered, the substitution of the natural aggregates with seashell waste involves higher environmental impacts, between 32% and 267%. These results are justified by the high contribution to these impacts of the seashell waste pre-treatment and the higher cement consumption. Therefore, the recycling of seashells in noise barrier manufacturing is not justified from an environmental standpoint with the current conditions. In this sense, it could be concluded that life cycle assessments should be carried out simultaneously with the technical development of the recycling process to ensure a sustainable solution. MDPI https://hdl.handle.net/11441/143375 https://doi.org/10.3390/pr8070776 |
| spellingShingle | Is Recycling Always the Best Option? Environmental Assessment of Recycling of Seashell as Aggregates in Noise Barriers Peceño, Begoña Life cycle assessment Circular economy Environmental sustainability Mollusk shell Porous concrete Construction |
| status_str | publishedVersion |
| title | Is Recycling Always the Best Option? Environmental Assessment of Recycling of Seashell as Aggregates in Noise Barriers |
| title_full | Is Recycling Always the Best Option? Environmental Assessment of Recycling of Seashell as Aggregates in Noise Barriers |
| title_fullStr | Is Recycling Always the Best Option? Environmental Assessment of Recycling of Seashell as Aggregates in Noise Barriers |
| title_full_unstemmed | Is Recycling Always the Best Option? Environmental Assessment of Recycling of Seashell as Aggregates in Noise Barriers |
| title_short | Is Recycling Always the Best Option? Environmental Assessment of Recycling of Seashell as Aggregates in Noise Barriers |
| title_sort | Is Recycling Always the Best Option? Environmental Assessment of Recycling of Seashell as Aggregates in Noise Barriers |
| topic | Life cycle assessment Circular economy Environmental sustainability Mollusk shell Porous concrete Construction |
| topic_facet | Life cycle assessment Circular economy Environmental sustainability Mollusk shell Porous concrete Construction |
| url | https://hdl.handle.net/11441/143375 https://doi.org/10.3390/pr8070776 |