The construction industry consumes enormous amount of raw materials and produces considerable waste. The optimization of construction material usage not only saves costs but also can significantly contribute to a sustainable development. The concept of recycling the construction and demolition concrete waste is being addressed in this paper as an approach that is not fully explored. Through a survey performed among a wide range of construction entities involved in developing countries, the survey has revealed that the absence of know-how and past experiences, the lack of economic and management models and the absence of codes of practices are the main obstacles that hinder the application of recycling concrete waste in order to be used as a source of secondary aggregate. This paper presents key performance criteria of recycling concrete which have resulted from a wide range of laboratory and field tests performed. An economic model is developed for the assessment of the feasibility of incorporating recycled concrete. Applying this model in a developing country such as Egypt reveals that savings up to $17 takes place for each recycled ton of concrete construction and demolition waste. This model can be applied to other countries, states and provinces. The paper proposes specification guidelines for the recycled concrete aggregate to be considered in codes of practice in developing countries.
Abstract