Life cycle costing of construction and demolition waste management chain

According to recent studies, in Italy, most of the mineral waste from construction and demolition (C&D) activities is already sent for recovery, but the closure of the circle, necessary for the realization of the circular economy, is not yet reached because there are still obstacles that prevent the widespread use of the secondary resources produced in the recycling activities. In Italy, natural cave-generated aggregates are still preferred in place of recovered ones and this implies large amounts of recycled materials that remain unsold, other than the reduction of natural goods, of which availability can be more and more limited by time. This work deepens the advantages of using recycled aggregates from the economic point of view, through the application of the Life Cycle Costing (LCC) methodology. The LCC analysis evaluates the preliminary, the machinery acquisition, the operating, and the disposal costs relating to the entire C&D value chain, going from the generation of inert waste in demolition yards to the use of the recycled aggregates produced. The results of this work will be the starting point for the proposal of incentive mechanisms or reward criteria, whose implications are relevant to policymakers.