Environmental Assessment of Earthquake Debris Management Strategies: the Case of L'aquila Earthquake
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ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT OF EARTHQUAKE DEBRIS MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES: THE CASE OF L'AQUILA EARTHQUAKE A. BASTI * * Department of Architecture, University of Chieti-Pescara, Viale Pindaro 42, 65100 Pescara, Italy SUMMARY: The text deals the topic of the management of rubble in the construction field, with particular reference to debris generated by seismic events, with particular attention to the environmental sustainability of the different intervention choices. In this perspective, the contribute starts from a careful consideration of the cultural, legal and practice context, to show the results of an experience developed by the author during the L'Aquila earthquake of April 2009, on a homogeneous area of more municipalities. A different handling and treatment options (centralized rather than localized) have been evaluated, both in terms of environmental impacts according to an LCA methodology as well as from the point of view of technical feasibility. The study was finalized to the identification of potentialities and limits of various management strategies to collect and reuse the debris derived by collapse and demolition of the buildings. 1. INTRODUCTION Debris management is one of the key points of the highly complex governance system set up for the reconstruction of the historic centres damaged by earthquakes. This is demonstrated by the constant debate over the most appropriate ways to remove, transport, sort, store and recycle recovered materials. From this point of view, environmental sustainability criteria such as reducing new raw materials, waste, energy consumption and emissions related to the transportation of materials to and from landfills, and maximizing the reuse of Construction and Demolition Waste (C&DW) waste, can be good practices on which to base local regulatory instruments to manage waste removal activities (Braungart M., Mc Donough W., 2002). More generally, as concerns the sustainable management of C&D waste, national and European rules and regulations, such as the Thematic Strategies for the Sustainable Use of Natural Resources (European Commision, COM (2005) 670), “Public procurement for a better environment” (European Commission, COM (2008) 400), the European Directive on Waste (European Commission, Directive 2008/98/CE), Italian rules on 30% use of recycled materials and products in public procurement (Italian Ministry of Environment, 2003) and the recovery of 70% of C&DW by 2020 (Italian Government, 2010) are good places to start. Proceedings Sardinia 2017 / Sixteenth International Waste Management and Landfill Symposium/ 2 - 6 October 2017 S. Margherita di Pula, Cagliari, Italy / © 2017 by CISA Publisher, Italy Sardinia 2017 / Sixteenth International Waste Management and Landfill Symposium / 2 - 6 October 2017 Recently, the new Public Procurement Code (Italian Government, 2016). made mandatory “Minimal environmental criteria for the design and management of public administration buildings and sites” (Italian Ministry of Environment, 2015). Several authors have addressed the issue of sustainable C&DW management, examining aspects related to various ways of reusing the waste as Secondary Raw Materials (SRM), the use of buildings through the reuse of recycled aggregates (Ossa A., García J.L., Botero E.,2016; Fan H.C. at al, 2016; Señas L., Priano C., Marfi S., 2016; Puthussery J.V., Kumar R., Garg A., 2017), as well as the environmental impacts of various types of collection, transportation and end of life (landfill, recycling, reuse), based on Life Cycle Assessments (LCA) (Butera S., Christensen T.H, Astrup T.F., 2015; Silva A et al., 2017). More specifically, other authors have studied ways of managing earthquake debris, focussing on the usefulness of an effective operational plan (Lauritzen E.K., 1998; Brown C., Milke M., Seville E., 2011; , Sasao T., 2016; Askarizadeh, L. et al., 2017). From this point of view, and with reference to the purpose of our study, i.e. the management of rubble from the April 2009 earthquake that struck the Abruzzo area, we should point out that Prime Ministerial Order OPCM 3923/2011 (Italian Prime Ministerial Order, 2011) includes some of the aforementioned strategies, introduces specific guidelines on the regulation of removal, transportation and treatment of waste from collapsed and demolished buildings, and establishes minimum objectives for their recycling and reuse. Based on this knowledge framework, the study compares two possible waste management schemes, focussing primarily on their impacts on the environment as well as local infrastructures and employment. Also suggest possible regulations that could be included in instruments implementing the Reconstruction Plans (PdR) to guarantee environmental sustainability of the actions, and refer to the definition of further study and applications. 2. OBJECT OF STUDY: THE L’AQUILA EARTHQUAKE CRATER The object of study is the district called the “earthquake crater”, composed of towns in varying degrees of destruction by the earthquake of April 2009. In order to correctly appreciate the extent of the “rubble” phenomenon, it is useful to remember that annual Italian production of C&DW is approximately 30 000 000 m3/year (Fischer C., Werge M., 2009) and that of the Abruzzo region is approximately 633 000 m3/year (Laraia R., 2011). The Reconstruction Commissioner of ITC-CNR (Institute for Building Technologies- Italian National Research Council) estimates the amount of rubble from the collapses and demolitions from the L’Aquila earthquake at approximately 2 000 000-2 650 000 m3, with some 1 125 640-1 305 617 m3 in the town of L’Aquila alone (49% of the total). Then there is all the refuse generated by the repairs and/or reconstruction through public works (roadworks, infrastructures, pilot projects), and private activities, the full scope of which can only be appreciated once all of the recovery and consolidation projects have been presented. Given such a huge volume to be dealt with in a short time, or impede accessibility to and from the construction sites in the historic centres, the companies operating in the L’Aquila province authorised to treat C&DW materials have given an initial estimate of annual capacity of approximately 406 000 m3/year. So, it appears evident that more temporary landfill, selection and treatments sites will be required, plus sites to be prepared for the storage of inert materials intended for reuse /recycling and possible disposal in non-dangerous and non-recyclable waste landfills after the selection Sardinia 2017 / Sixteenth International Waste Management and Landfill Symposium / 2 - 6 October 2017 activity. 2.1 The rubble management programme and legislative framework To regulate flows of materials and debris, three different management sites (see figure 1) were identified by the reference legislative framework issued after the earthquake (Commissioner Delegated to Reconstruction, Decrets 2010/2011, Italian Prime Ministerial Order, Ordinances 2011), excluding the subsequent but non-substantial modifications introduced by the Rubble disposal and recovery coordinating committee established by the Reconstruction Commissioner: - the former EX TEGES site in PAGANICA, for temporary rubble storage and selection, as well as the treatment, collection and storage of inert materials from the collapses and demolitions for reuse; - the TECHNOLOGICAL HUB in BARISCIANO, for temporary storage, treatment and disposal of waste from collapses, as well as from the demolition of damaged buildings; - the “COGESA” LANDFILL in SULMONA, for the disposal of non-hazardous waste from the selection and treatment of rubble not suitable for recovery or reuse; It also identifies allows individual towns to plan other temporary storage sites for other material sorting and separation activities, to be arranged in homogeneous code categories, according to the Italian and European Waste Catalogue (EWC) (Italian Government, 2006; European Commission, 2000), placing waste in appropriate bins or fabric containers (big bags). Figure 1. Temporary storage, treatment and disposal sites identified by Prime Ministerial Order OPCM 3923/2011 et seq. (in red) Sardinia 2017 / Sixteenth International Waste Management and Landfill Symposium / 2 - 6 October 2017 Figure 2. Temporary storage, treatment and disposal sites identified by Prime Ministerial Order OPCM 3923/2011 et seq. (in red) and inert material collection and storage companies in the Province of L’Aquila, arranged by size (in grey) To facilitate these activities and limit the public spaces required for temporary storage, private parties are required to do selective demolition, separation and storage of C&DW on site areas or in public areas serving several sites. Two different routes are also identified: a PUBLIC one for materials from collapsed buildings, demolitions and the destruction of dangerous buildings by order of the mayor, or building works conducted by order of public authorities. These materials are considered urban solid waste (Italian Government, 2009). Then there is a PRIVATE one for materials from private repairs or reconstruction, considered special waste to be managed under the normal collection and disposal programme. In both cases, for safety reasons, the transportation of the materials and inert waste to the temporary storage, separation and treatment sites is assigned to the fire brigade, armed forces or ASM SpA (Multiservices Society of L’Aquila), or to registered national environmental management companies. This is done following an evaluation of the