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C-05 Transport of wastes to landfill, incineration and recycling facilities – screening and simplified LCA

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Aspect C-05 Transport of wastes to landfill, incineration and recycling facilities – screening and simplified LCA
Description
 The transportation distances are likely to be different, depending on the EoL scenarios. For example, whereas a landfill facility is likely to be found in every city, a recycling plant may be far away as, for example, only one exists in a country exists.In this context, how should representative distances according to different waste EoL routes be defined for screening and simplified LCA?

related study objective

 ☒ stand-alone LCA ☒ comparative assertion

related study phase

 ☒ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐
goal and scope definition inventory analysis (LCI) impact assessment (LCIA) interpretation reporting

relevant for
new buildings existing buildings construction products screening LCA simplified LCA complete LCA
Provisions The transport of wastes or recycled products to EoL facilities remains optional for screening and simplified LCA, owing to the assumed minor relevance.This aspect is likely to be predefined, for example in generic LCA data for EoL processes or in each national EPD programme, and may be adopted within a given LCA study.
Rules from:

EN 15804

 

 6.3.4.6 End-of-life stage
6.3.8 Developing product scenarios
7.3 Scenarios and additional technical information
7.3.4 End of life


Guidance
 For recycling and disposal routes, the distances will vary, depending on each national context. Transport distances for different waste types may also vary according to the number of treatment sites. For example, hazardous waste may have the longest transport distance, owing to the limited number of sites, whereas inert waste may have the shortest. (http://www.sepa.org.uk/waste/waste_infrastructure_maps.aspx or http://www.landfill-site.com/html/how_many_landfills.php) National waste management plans or waste infrastructure maps may help in identifying the locations of waste management sites.Data may be currently available for transport of waste between the demolition site and sorting plant: e.g. for the French context see the report from [ADEME 2003]. For example, current practice in generic databases or EPD programmes may take into account:- between 10 and 30 km for inert and non-hazardous wastes, as well as for incineration with energy recovery;- around 100 km for hazardous wastes.

For recycled products sent to a recycling facility it is likely that the distance will be higher because, to date, the number of recycling facilities is still low, leading to higher distances than for landfill facilities. As an average value, 250 km for trucks can be assumed. This figure may be revised if more accurate data are available in a national context, and if the EoL transport is found to be significant in the final results.

 

C-06 Transport of wastes to landfill, incineration and recycling facilities – complete LCA

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Aspect C-06 Transport of wastes to landfill, incineration and recycling facilities – complete LCA
Description
 The transportation distances are likely to be different, depending on the EoL scenarios. For example, whereas a landfill facility is likely to be found in every city, a recycling plant may be far away as, for example, only one exists in a country exists.In this context, how should representative distances according to different waste EoL routes be defined for complete LCA?

related study objective

 ☒ stand-alone LCA ☒ comparative assertion

related study phase

 ☒ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐
goal and scope definition inventory analysis (LCI) impact assessment (LCIA) interpretation reporting

relevant for
new buildings existing buildings construction products screening LCA simplified LCA complete LCA
Provisions The transport of wastes or recycled products to EoL facilities should be included for complete LCA, even if maybe of assumed minor relevance.This aspect is likely to be predefined, for example in generic LCA data for EoL processes or in each national EPD programme, and may be adopted within a given LCA study.
Rules from:

EN 15804

 

 6.3.4.6 End-of-life stage
6.3.8 Developing product scenarios
7.3 Scenarios and additional technical information
7.3.4 End of life


Guidance
 For recycling and disposal routes, the distances will vary, depending on each national context [SBA 2012]. Transport distances for different waste types may also vary according to the number of treatment sites. For example, hazardous waste may have the longest transport distance, owing to the limited number of sites, whereas inert waste may have the shortest (http://www.sepa.org.uk/waste/waste_infrastructure_maps.aspx or http://www.landfill-site.com/html/how_many_landfills.php). National waste management plans or waste infrastructure maps may help in identifying the locations of waste management sites.Data may be currently available for transport of waste between the demolition site and sorting plant: e.g. for the French context see the report from [ADEME 2003]. For example, current practice in generic databases or EPD programmes may take into account:- between 10 and 30 km for inert and non-hazardous wastes, as well as for incineration with energy recovery;- around 100 km for hazardous wastes.For recycled products sent to a recycling facility it is likely that the distance will be higher because, to date, the number of recycling facilities is still low, leading to higher distances than for landfill facilities. As an average value, 250 km for trucks can be assumed. This figure may be revised if more accurate data are available in a national context, and if the EoL transport is found to be significant in the final results.

 

C-07 Waste treatment vs recycling and recovery process

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Aspect C-07 Waste treatment vs recycling and recovery process
Description
 How should the waste treatment and recycling/reuse/energy recovery of building materials be accounted for (e.g. different recycling practices, economic feasibility)?

related study objective

 ☒ stand-alone LCA ☒ comparative assertion

related study phase

 ☒ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐
goal and scope definition inventory analysis (LCI) impact assessment (LCIA) interpretation reporting

relevant for
new buildings existing buildings construction products screening LCA simplified LCA complete LCA
Provisions The provisions in EN 15804 should be referred to.Scenarios should then be developed, based on each national context. For example, for the French context [ADEME 2010] can be referred to for estimates of the amounts of sorted and recycled materials.This aspect is likely to be predefined in every national EPD programme, and may be adopted within a given LCA study.
Rules from:

EN 15804

 

 6.3.4.6 End-of-life stage
6.3.8 Developing product scenarios
7.3 Scenarios and additional technical information
7.3.4 End of life
Guidance
 Module C3 provides information on waste treatment processes until the product reaches the end-of-waste state or is disposed of (included in C4). In theory, processes before the end-of-waste state is reached are waste treatment processes, and processes after the end-of-waste state is reached are recycling or recovery processes. When deciding whether a process should be included in C3 or be considered as a recycling process within Module D. the focus should be less on the terminology for the process and more on whether the waste has reached the end-of-waste state. The default scenario for the end-of-life stage C3 should be based on current national practice for demolition material. However, alternative scenarios can be given, if a range of waste treatment options is available.National schemes may provide default scenarios and models for Module C3 for various materials, based on current practice.The end-of-waste state is defined in EN 15804 6.3.4.5. All waste treatment process impacts until the end-of-waste state are reached should be included in Module C3, excluding demolition (considered in C1) and transport to waste treatment or disposal (considered in C2).

The Loads and benefits of recycling, recovery and reuse beyond the system boundary are recorded in Module D.

Energy recovered by energy recovery processes, e.g. incineration with an efficiency greater than 60%, is recorded in Module D (as the recovery process impacts and avoided impacts of conventional generation), as the material must have reached the end-of-waste state to be considered for energy recovery (EN 15804 6.3.4.5 Note 2).

Recovery processes with efficiencies of less than 60% cannot be considered as energy recovery, and must be considered as waste management processes, e.g. as incineration (Module C4).

Incineration of demolition materials that have not reached the end-of-waste state must also be considered within Module C4, irrespective of the efficiency of incineration (EN 15804 6.3.4.5 Note 2). In both instances, benefits from these C3 processes beyond the system boundary can be recorded in Module D.

C-03 (Buildings) / C-08 (Products) LCA modelling of landfill/disposal

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Aspect C-03 (Buildings) / C-08 (Products) LCA modelling of landfill/disposal
Description
 Should general rules be defined regarding what is deposited and which LCA data to use? What is the timescale for modelling the fate of disposed material?

related study objective

 ☒ stand-alone LCA ☒ comparative assertion

related study phase

 ☒ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐
goal and scope definition inventory analysis (LCI) impact assessment (LCIA) interpretation reporting

relevant for
new buildings existing buildings construction products screening LCA simplified LCA complete LCA
Provisions This aspect depends on the background database used. LCA practitioners need to adopt the procedures from the background database, and have no specific influence on it.The fate of materials should be based on current practice (as a baseline scenario), and not predicted practice in the future (except for sensitivity analysis purposes).
Rules from:

EN 15978

 8.7.5 Scenarios for disposal – Module C4

EN 15804

 6.3.4.6 End-of-life stage
6.3.7 Data quality requirements
6.3.8 Developing product scenarios
7.3 Scenarios and additional technical information
7.3.4 End-of-life
ILCD Provisions 7.4.4.2 Modelling waste treatment
I) SHALL – Waste and end-of-life product deposition
I.a) Model waste management completely
         I.b) Modelling discarding of goods into nature
I.c) Modelling waste as output“Note: the use of generic waste treatment models/processes may be considered to limit time and resources required for data collection.”
Guidance
 Within building or product LCA studies, the depositing of material in landfill or other disposal mechanisms is typically not a focus of the study, and is modelled with the use of generic data from background databases. These databases have their own modelling principles concerning the fate of landfilled material. The practitioner cannot influence this aspect, but should understand the way in which landfill processes have been modeled. In some databases, emissions that occur after 100 years are identified separately, and their effect can therefore be considered separately. Databases may also have specific assumptions about the decay rates of biogenic material in landfill and the composition and capture rates for landfill gas, which may not relate to practice in the various Member States, or to current understanding. The practitioner should ensure that this aspect is not neglected. For example, organic materials should not be handled as though they were inert, as this might yield significant errors in the estimation of the fate of deposited material. The practitioner should ensure that the treatment of landfill and incineration processes is considered consistently with the datasets for the production of biogenic material (this should be the case if data are sourced from the same database). Module C4 covers the disposal of end-of-life construction material arising from the demolition of the building. The disposal of end-of-life material arising from the use phase (Modules B2–B5) is included in the individual module where the waste arises.Current landfilling rates and other disposal processes should be used to develop the scenarios for Module C4.The choice of LCA data for landfilling should correspond, as a minimum, to the different types of wastes (inert, non-hazardous and hazardous), although more detailed landfill models are available in many databases. In addition, the time period over which inputs/outputs should be inventoried from the point of disposal in landfill is 100 years [EN 15804 6.3.7]. For biogenic materials, it is of particular relevance to take account of the fate of the biogenic carbon when landfilled, considering the decay rate, the mix of carbon dioxide and methane produced from decay, and the landfill gas capture rate of the landfill. National assumptions for various materials and landfills vary widely.The extent to which biogenic carbon decays into methane at end of life also needs to be considered in LCA studies, although there is little consensus on exactly how much methane will be generated or released in an average landfill. In any event, the greenhouse gases released from biomass degradation will not be balanced by an equivalent amount of sequestered CO2, owing to the increased GWP of methane emission. National EPD programmes may prescribe landfill models, or the percentage of material that will be placed in landfill at the end of life.

D-01 Inclusion of reuse, recovery or recycling potentials (Module D) in building or product LCA

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Aspect D-01 Inclusion of reuse, recovery or recycling potentials (Module D) in building or product LCA
Description
 Module D describes the net benefits related to exported energy and secondary materials, secondary fuels or secondary products resulting from reuse, recycling and energy recovery that take place beyond the system boundary for both products and buildings. Displaying Module D separately is a very recent outcome of expert discussions. Before, in some life cycle studies, Modules C (end of life) and D were presented jointly in one life cycle stage, and different approaches were used in other situations such as the use of recycled material. As this is not necessarily done any more, under what circumstances is it necessary or mandatory to include Module D in the life cycle results?

related study objective

 ☒ stand-alone LCA ☒ comparative assertion

related study phase

 ☒ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐
goal and scope definition inventory analysis (LCI) impact assessment (LCIA) interpretation reporting

relevant for
new buildings existing buildings construction products screening LCA simplified LCA complete LCA
Provisions EN 15978 for building level calculation states [8.8] that “If relevant and available, Module D addresses the net environmental benefits or loads resulting from reuse, recycling and energy recovery”, and [12.6] “The communication from the report may be simplified according to the following rules: […] if relevant information is provided at the product level on Module D, this information should be reported.”The first point states that Module D should be included if it is relevant, and data are available. The second suggests that if any product used in the building provides data for Module D, this must be reported at the building level, although this is not a mandatory requirement of the standard (‘should’, not ‘shall’).

In general, Module D should be reported both on the product and at the building level, but it is clear from both EN 15804 and EN 15978 that Module D is provided “to help with transparency on the benefits and loads of processes beyond the system boundary of the object of assessment”. Deviating from EN 15978 for benchmarking purposes with other studies where recycling credits have been included, Module D may be included in the building life cycle, but other aspects of system boundary and treatment of recycling (such as use of the cut-off approach for inputs) may render such comparisons invalid.
Rules from:

EN 15978

 7.4.6 Boundary for the benefits and loads beyond the system boundary (Module D)

EN 15804

 6.2.7 D Benefits and loads beyond the system boundary, information module

ILCD

 ILCD uses different approaches for the system boundaries and the benefits of recycling, and Module D is therefore not discussed.
Guidance
 If Module D data are not provided by manufacturers within the EPD, default values can be used, or values estimated by the building assessor. As these values may be worse than the calculated values for the product, this could be an incentive for producers to provide data at a product level.It could be argued that Module D is not relevant to the life cycle assessment of both products and buildings, as it is outside the system boundary, although the TC 350 standards state that Module D can be provided as part of the building assessment information to provide additional transparency on benefits and loads beyond the system boundary.

The benefits of exported energy (for example from excess generation from integrated renewable, or from the capture of landfill gas from disposal in C4) must be reported in Module D, and this must be reported separately from any other flows, but Module D is an optional module for any product EPD, and at the building level EN 15978 states regarding Module D that “Where a material flow exits the system boundary and has an economic value or has reached the end-of-waste stage and substitutes another product, then the impacts may be calculated” [7.4.6], and 8.1 states “If information on Module D is communicated in a building assessment”, which shows that it is not a requirement that it be communicated. It is clear that Module D does not need to be calculated for all materials; only where this is defined at a product level must it also be considered in Module D at the building level. However, depending on the relevance of and attitude to the information provided in Module D, practitioners are free to generate data within Module D for products that have not provided this information within their EPD, subject to the normal rules for scenarios regarding current practice.

The system boundary for the building life cycle may be extended to include Module D if full life cycle results are assessed in a context where credits due to system expansion are typically accounted for. This is, for instance, the case in the German Sustainable Building labelling system (DGNB). The practitioner should be very clear that changing the system boundary of the object of assessment may introduce the possibility of double-counting benefits or loads, and should ensure this does not occur.

The other use of Module D is to assess design for dismantling or recycling building alternatives.

Back to 7 Aspects concerning Module D

D-02 Reuse – water consumption

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Aspect D-02 Reuse – water consumption
Description
 There are different quality levels of water – freshwater, rainwater, greywater and waste water. Depending on these quality levels water, can be used for different applications (e.g. rainwater for washing clothes). How and under what circumstances is it possible to obtain benefits from the reuse of water?

related study objective

 ☒ stand-alone LCA ☒ comparative assertion

related study phase

 ☒ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐
goal and scope definition inventory analysis (LCI) impact assessment (LCIA) interpretation reporting

relevant for
new buildings existing buildings construction products screening LCA simplified LCA complete LCA
Provisions Module D looks at the loads and benefits of the net output flow, if relevant and available. If water outputs or any output flow at EoL (not production waste) are reused, then to calculate the net output flow, any use of similar reused water or material as an input in Modules A1–C4 must be considered to calculate the net flow (output − input = net output flow).If there is a net output flow, then the impacts associated with any reuse processes after the ‘end-of-waste state’ can be included in Module D, together with a credit associated with the avoided production of the virgin product.
Rules from:

EN 15978

 7.4.6 Boundary for the benefits and loads beyond the system boundary (Module D)

EN 15804

 6.2.7 D Benefits and loads beyond the system boundary, information module

ILCD

 Not mentioned
Guidance

If any water from the building is reused outside the building, then the benefits of this use (credit for virgin water extraction and treatment, together with any impacts from the system boundary before substitutive use) are included in Module D.

If a waste material or waste energy is recycled, then the impacts associated with any processes after the ‘end-of-waste state’ before it can be used to substitute primary material can be included in Module D , together with a credit associated with the production of the virgin product it substitutes.

Back to 7 Aspects concerning Module D