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6E - Life cycle management (MOP/203) The plastic and concrete mass flow - an approach for LCA of houses in Japan. Matsubara, Hiromi1, Ono, Yoshiro1, 1 Department of Environmental Science and Technology, University of Okayama, Okayama, Okayama, Japan ABSTRACT- Japan has a huge stock of houses. This situation would have been made by customs of housing peculiar to Japan. For example, on average, a house constructed in Japan has a lifespan of 26 years. This is much shorter than the average of 44 years in America, and 75 years in Britain. It is because that Japanese life style which has dramatically changed from traditional to Western in recent years, and a national character which people tend to prefer newly building to rebuilding. Therefore, the construction wastes are steadily increasing. The problem is that they indeed occupy a large percentage of the landfill. To make matters worse, a large number of houses, which were built during the high economic growth phase, will soon have to be renewed and rebuilt. This study shows the mass flow of concrete and plastic wastes after their uses as a preliminary inventory to carry out the LCA of houses. Its purpose is not to estimate the exact quantity, but to estimate both the quantity and quality of the wastes before they are generated. The quantity of concrete and plastic wastes are inventoried by the multiplication of two elements; lost housing space and Waste Generation Rates (WGRs: t/m2/year). At the same time, the results are verified by official data in Japan. Successfully this study achieves the follow up of concrete wastes from generation to reuse, and finds that mixed plastic come greater from terraced and apartment houses than from detached ones. Furthermore, this method is utilized to make a chemical flow by using the concentration of chemicals in WGRs. Finally, this study's point of view would be important for the LCA of houses; quantity and quality should be put into account from the designing phase. Key words: concrete wastes, houses, plastic wastes |
