The construction industry is one of the largest and most active sectors of the European Union (EU), consuming more raw materials and energy than any other economic activity. Likewise waste from its activities corresponds to a large share of those produced in the EU. The present EU legislation aims at creating conditions to implement construction and demolition waste (CDW) prevention and recycling measures. However, there is a lack of tools to accelerate the development of a sector as traditional as construction. The main objective of this research work is to propose indicators for estimating the amount of CDW generated on site, both globally and by waste stream. CDW generation was estimated for six specific sectors: new residential construction, new non-residential construction, residential demolition, non-residential demolition, residential rehabilitation, and non-residential rehabilitation. This paper presents the results for new residential construction. The data used to develop the indicators was obtained through an extensive analysis of data from previous international studies.
Construction and demolition waste; Legislation; Quantification; Indicators
