Currently there are no known methods that will effectively estimate construction wastes. In this study, we will show how the early estimation method for construction wastes can be used to estimate construction wastes, particularly concrete and plastic wastes, using blueprints for houses. The early estimation method for construction wastes is a methodology to estimate the discharge of these materials at the design stage. What this study makes clear is that this method is more valid than the methods based on the wastes from dismantled buildings. To illustrate this, we examined how much concrete and plastics were used for one detached house and one apartment house. We calculated the quantitative ratios of each waste per the floor space for each house (t/m~2, kg/m~2) and the space that houses were dismantled (m~2 /year). We defined these ratios as units of concrete and plastic wastes, and the lost housing space respectively. Then we multiplied the lost housing space by the units to estimate the amounts of concrete and plastic wastes producing in a year. Moreover we analyzed concrete wastes with ICP-AES and examined the content of chromium as an example how the methodology can work. It was found from the results of estimation that units of concrete and plastic wastes calculated from blueprints were almost identical with those calculated from actual wastes. Also it was revealed that the estimated discharging quantities of concrete and plastic wastes were equivalent to the statistical data. The result of the analysis clearly showed that resource recovery or landfill disposal of concrete wastes could be safe for human in respect of heavy metals because the content of chromium in concrete wastes was under the Japanese standard for soil. These results lead us to the conclusion that the early estimation method could be a handy and effective method for estimation of the quantity and the quality of concrete and plastic wastes.
展开▼