Construction and demolition waste in the Metropolitan City of Naples, Italy: State of the art, circular design, and sustainable planning opportunities

This study deals with the perspective of circular economy (CE) transition in the Construction and Demolition Waste Management (C&DWM) system of the Metropolitan City of Naples (Italy). It assesses the current building materials stored in the existing buildings and C&DW generation, composition and management, by means of public databases, i-Tree Canopy software and SWOT analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats). The final goal is to provide useful feedbacks to the city Administration and stakeholders to increase and improve the management of existing C&DW flows. The statistical database and the use of i-Tree Canopy for geographical assessment point out a large amount of building materials stocked in the existing buildings and potentially available, while results of the SWOT analysis, combined with TOWS matrix, show that the transition to CE in the C&DW management systems in the Metropolitan City of Naples still is at an early stage due to several weaknesses. The latter regard the lack of demand for recycled products, the lack of data in the end-of-life stage of recycling, and the presence of a high fraction of mixed C&DW reflecting the low adoption of reduction measures on C&D sites. Solutions are proposed with the purpose of better realigning the C&DWM system according to the CE principles as well as to increased sustainability.