Primary foreground data for the environmental assessment of construction and demolition waste recycling processes: critical issues and perspectives emerged from the REWINDS project.

The construction sector is the major contributor to resource consumption and waste generation, making it essential to accurately quantify its environmental impacts to guide ecological and cir- cular choices. Therefore, Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) practices should cover all stages of the life cycle; however, the End-of-Life stage is often overlooked. This paper presents some of the early results of the REWINDS project, obtained from the collection of foreground primary data in Construction and Demolition Waste (CDW) treatment processes. The design of a dedicated data form and its application to two treatment plants in Emilia-Romagna highlighted variable energy and water consumption, with an average “End of Waste” yield of 89%. The variability observed in literature data and the differences reported by companies confirm the need for accessible primary data to ensure reliable LCA assessments, pointing to future methodological implications.