Background: Recently, the third round of the second batch of central ecological and environmental protection inspections exposed typical cases, focusing on issues such as illegal disposal of construction waste. The inspection cases show that some provinces and cities have problems such as ineffective implementation of whole-process management systems, inadequate supervision of standardized disposal, and lagging construction of resource utilization facilities.

Commentary: In recent years, with the continuous advancement of new urbanization, the output of urban construction waste has been increasing, putting considerable pressure on the urban environment.

The inspection found that Zhangjiajie City and Yongzhou City in Hunan Province have severely insufficient construction waste disposal capacity, with resource utilization rates of construction waste in 2023 both below 10%, far below the average level of Hunan Province. Yongzhou City began planning the construction of construction waste resource utilization facilities as early as 2018, but due to factors such as poor planning coordination and failure to secure site selection and land acquisition, the work has been repeatedly delayed and has not yet been completed.

The resource utilization of construction waste, especially recycling or circular utilization, is the focus of construction waste governance. However, in some places, the mixed piling and random dumping of construction waste occurs from time to time. On the one hand, some cities lack long-term planning, and the design, construction, and demolition activities in the construction industry still adopt traditional extensive production methods, directly causing the generation of large amounts of construction waste; on the other hand, classified collection and disposal management have not been implemented for the generated construction waste.

Do a good job in construction waste disposal. Governments at all levels should plan scientifically and lay out rationally, establish construction waste recycling and resource disposal centers, and properly handle construction waste disposal work. Relevant management departments should also improve and implement a classified treatment system for construction waste. They should clarify requirements for construction waste reduction, classified collection, transportation, transfer, sorting, utilization, disposal, and supervision, and use construction waste resource utilization products in accordance with relevant regulations. At the same time, social capital can be introduced, and investment and financing models such as public-private partnerships can be encouraged to accelerate the construction of construction waste resource utilization facilities.

The sustainable development of the urban ecological environment is a key factor in achieving sustainable urban development in the future. The sustainable development strategy requires harmless resource-based treatment of urban construction waste. It can be said that resource utilization is an important method of urban construction waste treatment. Therefore, in the process of urban construction waste treatment, relevant management must be continuously strengthened, technological progress must be promoted, and the resource utilization of urban construction waste must be fundamentally ensured to promote the sustainable development of the urban environment.