Product Overview (Chapter) | COPAL Publishing Group

Dr Manjari Chakraborty | Dr Rizwan Kazmi

ISBN:

978-81-180058-1-0

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.67509/ceci5910

20. Life Cycle Assessment of Legacy Waste: Ecotoxicity, Land Recovery, and Material Recycling

Circular Economy in the Construction Industry: Waste Management Practices

Munshi Izaz Refaz | Nabanita Ghosh | Tumpa Hazra | Anupam Debsarkar

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.67509/ceci5929

2026 | 337 pp.

Legacy waste management presents a significant environmental challenge, especially in developing countries where non-engineered dumpsites continue to persist. The Dhapa landfill, one of India’s oldest urban waste disposal sites, has accumulated vast quantities of municipal solid waste over decades, has started the biomining process recently, and is struggling to manage a huge amount of legacy waste. Biomined legacy waste typically contains 11.87% construction & demolition (C&D) waste and 44.75% fine earth. Among these, fine earth material accounts for the maximum land occupation, although C&D waste also contributes significantly to land use. C&D debris can also impact the terrestrial ecosystem by introducing dust and other contaminants into the environment. Therefore, this study aims to evaluate the land occupation impact and terrestrial ecotoxicity of 1 ton of legacy waste collected from the Dhapa landfill using a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) approach (OpenLCA v2.1, 2021), to assess the recovery potential of fine earth and C&D materials under two reuse scenarios: Scenario-I: Baseline scenario and Scenario-II: Both fine earth and C&D waste were used for low-lying area filling. The life cycle analysis of the baseline scenario reveals that 1 ton of legacy waste occupies approximately 1.364 m2a crop eq of land. Analyses indicate that Scenario-II results in a significantly higher land recovery of 67.4% and also decreases the terrestrial ecotoxicity and fine particulate matter formation by approximately 22% and 48.4% respectively compared to the baseline scenario. The economic implications were also evaluated. Scenario-II demonstrated greater economic value, with a benefit of ₹27,988 per ton, corresponding to an area recovery of 9.895 sq.ft. per ton of legacy waste. This study underscores the vital role of resource recovery in minimizing terrestrial ecotoxicity and land occupancy by supporting sustainable urban development and advancing circular economy goals.

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