Recycled aggregate from C&D waste & its use in concrete - A breakthrough towards sustainability in construction sector: A review

The issues of sustainability are of prime concerns these days as we use large amount of natural resources for producing materials such as concrete. Depletion of natural resources is one of such sustainability issues which we need to address in an efficient manner. The recent trend in construction industry is to use the alternative source of construction materials which can substitute the use of virgin materials in order to reduce environmental impact in terms of energy consumption, pollution, waste disposal and global warming. On the other hand, the waste generated from the demolition of old structure and construction activity is a matter of concern all over the world. Thus, recycling and reuse of these wastes may reduce the usage of natural resources and it can also serve towards the demand of environment. The present paper gives a brief status of recycled aggregate concrete made out of recycled aggregate, summarizes and critically analyses some of the most important research findings over the past few years regarding the material aspects. It also attempts to elucidate the approaches for the better performances, identifies the gaps in the existing knowledge and underlines the reasons why this promising technology has not become widely accepted by the construction industry. The practical problems with application of recycled aggregate in concrete are also discussed. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.