Abstract
Based on a life cycle assessment, this study evaluates changes in environmental impact as a result of the introduction of a clay roof tile recycling system. The clay roof tile is a ceramic product that must be crushed in order to be recycled. Our case study focuses on a recycling system introduced in Nagoya City. Energy consumption, CO2 emission, NOx emission, SOx emission and waste emission were selected as the environmental loads for this study. The results of our inventory analysis reveal that while NOx emission, SOx emission and waste emissions saw a decrease under this system, energy consumption and CO2 emissions increased. We carried out integrated analysis using several methods. LIME (Life-cycle Impact Assessment Method based on Endpoint Modeling) results showed that this recycling system would cause a decrease in the integrated environmental loads. On the other hand, results achieved by Eco-indicator 95 and EPS (Eco-Scarcity Method) showed increased environmental loads. We also conducted an estimate of the total discharge amount of waste roof tiles in Nagoya City using GIS, then analyzed material balance in the recycling system. Results showed that only the system in Nagoya City resulted in an increase of 0.03% CO2 emission and achieved 21% of the reduction target for final industrial waste discharge throughout Aichi Prefecture.
