Estimating and calibrating the amount of building-related construction and demolition waste in urban China

Abstract

One side effect of the unprecedented urbanization in China is the large amount of building-related construction and demolition (C&D) waste generated during the process. It is an enigma why such statistics as C&D waste generation are absent from the literature in spite of their importance to devising sensible interventions to deal with the C&D waste-related problems. This paper aims to estimate the amount of C&D waste at the country level. It does so by adopting a methodology utilizing national statistical data and the average amounts of waste generated at work sites. Furthermore, the estimation undergoes a thorough calibration against various independent sources before it can be accepted confidently. It is finally estimated that approximately 1.13 billion tons of C&D materials were generated in China during 2014, which has declined from a plateau of building activities and C&D waste generation in the early 2010s. The paper provides some useful references for devising appropriate C&D waste reduction, reuse, or recycling strategies. The paper also offers useful commentary on methodology to estimate C&D waste generation at an urban level, particularly in situations where data availability is erratic.