Recent advances, recommendations, and way forward

Abstract

The use of concrete construction has never been so rampant before and the demand is continuously rising. As a result, the environment is overburdened with the increased CO2 emissions associated with cement and exploitation of limited natural resources to produce other constituents of concrete such as coarse or fine aggregates. This book has mainly focussed on the recycling and reuse of construction demolition wastes as alternative coarse aggregates and partial cement substitution by other supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs) to produce sustainable concrete. This combination not only helps in managing construction and demolition waste but also enhances the performance and durability of concrete. The inclusion of SCMs has proven to compensate some of the inherent inferiorities associated with coarse RCA based concrete which is discussed previously in other chapters. However, their practical application presents several challenges that need to be addressed to maximize their potential. This chapter explores concerns associated with this recycled concrete and available recent studies to address these issues.