Agent-based modelling for environmental impact of renovation waste in Shenzhen, China

A study was undertaken to develop an agent-based model for building renovation waste management in Shenzhen, China, considering various stakeholders. An extensive literature review on renovation waste management was followed by development of a Java-based model. The model simulates results on the environmental impact of different policy scenarios with various interactions between stakeholders. Based on the results, renovation waste source reduction provided the most successful strategy in reducing negative environmental impacts from renovation waste. Transportation also had significant environmental impacts. Therefore, optimising routes, optimising the selection of dumping sites and increasing landfill charges need to be considered. A well-coordinated national policy for renovation waste generation is also proposed. Environmental impact assessment models for renovation waste management ignore various stakeholders despite their importance. Based on the simulation results, efforts should be made to educate the public, improve implementation of emission-charging policies and refine legislation and regulations. By doing so, developers, contractors and proprietors could improve awareness on source reduction, thereby reducing the amount of renovation waste and increasing environmental performance.