Processing debris from destroyed and damaged buildings in Gaza: carbon emissions, time frames, and implications for rebuilding
Debris from destroyed buildings and infrastructure is a material representation of the human, environmental, and infrastructural devastation resulting from the destruction of Gaza. Clearing and processing debris will require a tremendous effort, calling for fleets of heavy machinery such as dump tru...
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| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
IOP Publishing
2025-01-01
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| Series: | Environmental Research: Infrastructure and Sustainability |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1088/2634-4505/adeadc |
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| Summary: | Debris from destroyed buildings and infrastructure is a material representation of the human, environmental, and infrastructural devastation resulting from the destruction of Gaza. Clearing and processing debris will require a tremendous effort, calling for fleets of heavy machinery such as dump trucks and industrial jaw crushers. We estimate the carbon emissions arising from transporting debris from destroyed and damaged buildings to proposed disposal sites, and from crushing uncontaminated concrete rubble into aggregates for reuse in building blocks, roadway repair, and shoreline protection. Using open-source spatial data, we first identify the location of over 36.8 million metric tonnes of debris from buildings destroyed and damaged over the 14-month period between 7 October 2023 and 1 December 2024. Based on truck capacity and fuel consumption, we estimate that moving this debris to disposal sites for sorting and processing would require over 2.1 million dump truck loads and 29.5 million kilometres driven, which is equivalent to about 736.5 times the Earth’s circumference, generating around 65 642.40 tonnes of C0 _2 e. The carbon emissions resulting from crushing uncontaminated concrete rubble and time frames required to undertake this work are highly sensitive to the type of crushers available. Assuming that 80% of the debris is viable for crushing, a fleet of 50 high-capacity industrial jaw crushers, which as far as we know are currently unavailable in Gaza, would take just over 6 months and generate around 2975.91 tonnes of C0 _2 e. With a fleet of 50 smaller crushers of the primary type used in Gaza, processing the same amount of rubble would take more than 37 years and generate around 25 148.76 tonnes of C0 _2 e. Our findings contribute to debates about the climate impacts of war and provide important insight into the time, effort and equipment required to process the immense volume of debris in preparation for the rebuilding of Gaza. |
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| ISSN: | 2634-4505 |