Why Recycling Construction Waste is Essential
Discuss about the Building Waste Aggregate in Road Pavement.
The aim of this literature review is to identify the major issues and the advantages of making use of building waste aggregate in road pavement. The need of managing the construction and the demolition wastes are increasing with the increasing pollution. This give rise to the use of these wastes in environmental friendly actions such as road pavement so that the reuse and recycle of the wastes can be promoted. The use of building wastes is a significant way of recycling the major construction, building or demolition wastes. The main aim of making use of these wastes is to avoid deposit of these wastes at landfills reducing their probable use in other construction works such as road pavement. However, the technical viability of use of wastes in road pavement is to be tested in order to ensure whether these wastes can be used as a base pavement layer in the construction of road.
In the recent years, several efforts have been made in order to manage the large number of construction and building demolition wastes. As a part of recycling techniques, several countries are interested in making use of these building wastes for road pavement, which has turned out to be one of the significant uses of these wastes[1]. The need of recycling the building wastes arises mainly because these wastes are disposed in the municipality landfills reducing the entire capacity of the landfill. Therefore, recycling these cement concretes becomes necessary. Recycling of the building wastes proves to be a technical solution to waste management leading to the significant decrease in the costs and the environmental issues associated with the cost of transportation and the storage of the wastes generated from construction and building activities.
The use of building wastes in rod pavement is a feasible solution as the main material included in these wastes is cement concrete. With the application of appropriate recycling techniques, the recycled aggregate from the building wastes can successfully act as a substitute of the construction of rigid pavements[2]. The advantage is that it will limit the consumption of the natural aggregates and use of cement concrete from the building wastes.
From the building wastes, the cement concrete can be used in the road pavement works. The extraction of the cement contrite from the building wastes is quite simple and this operation may not require any special element or equipment. For this, in the building demolition sites, the materials other than the concrete are removed as much as possible in order to avoid contamination with the cement wastes. However, in this process the documents and the drawings of the construction of the demolished buildings are of great importance (particularly the drawings that details the quality and the composition of cement concrete) as it contain the much necessary information associated with the performance and the characteristics of the concrete. These information will be a great help to determine whether the building wastes or the cement concrete of the building wastes can actually be put to use or not.
Using Building Wastes in Road Pavements
The process of reusing the construction wastes is quite simple as the organization of the recycled aggregate does not differ much from the aggregate production of the natural crushed aggregate as same equipments can be put to use for crushing, storing and storage of the recycled aggregates. The recycled aggregates are obtained by crushing the broken cement concrete making use of the equipments that are used in the construction[3]. However, for the better control of recycled aggregates the recycling of the cement concrete is mainly carried out in two stages of crushing. Firstly, a jaw crusher and the sieving equipment is used to break the concrete and its reduced to a granular mix. In the second stage, the material remaining on the sieve is further sent to the impact crusher where the maximum size of the recycled aggregate results. Therefore, it can be seen that the process is quite simple and the use of cement concrete after recycling leads to the improvement of the environmental pollution by preserving the natural resources, reducing wastes and freeing up the space in the landfills.
The protection of environment can be considered as a basic factor that is connected to the survival of the human race. Different parameters such as environmental consciousness, protection of natural resources and sustainable developments play an important role in making use of the building wastes in road pavement after it is being recycled. The need of recycling these building wastes is essential as researches prove that a construction work takes almost 50% of raw materials from nature and consumes 40% of the total energy and ultimately creating 50% of the total wastes. In European Union, it is seen that 500kg of construction demolition waste corresponds to each citizen on an average.
There are certain reasons behind the increase in the large number of building wastes giving rise to the need of recycling the same. The main reasons in increase in the volume of the building waste is that, many old buildings have overcome their limit of use and need demolition, the new structure might need new requirements or necessities and therefore needs demolition and building wastes can also be created due to natural disasters and destructive phenomenon such as earthquake and storms.
The use of building wastes in road pavements is promoted mainly because it provides a substantial protection from the natural resources of the country[4]. Furthermore, the accumulation of these building wastes eats up the space where they are deposited. Therefore, the use of recycled wastes in road pavements is considered to be a high priority job throughput the world.
Concerns Associated with using Recycled Building Wastes in Road Pavement
The construction and the maintenance of the roads consume a large amount of quarried aggregate. The use of the secondary materials (recycled building wastes) instead of the primary materials considerably helps in easing out the landfill pressures and thereby reducing the amount of wastes that are generated as a result of construction[5]. However, there are certain concerns related to the use of such materials in road pavement, mainly the concerns about the performance of the same.
Majority of the construction wastes goes into landfills that increase the burden of landfill loading and operation. These wastes are generally treated so that it can be used for other purposes, one of which is construction of road pavements. These wastes can further result in soil and water pollution. Therefore, different countries are making use of these concrete wastes in order to reduce pollution and eliminate the burden of increasing landfills. One of the advantages is that, these wastes can be recycled directly to their original consistency making the process of re use even better.
One of the important and the most significant step of recycling these wastes is on site separation. Although this requires an extra effort and training, this step cannot be skipped in the process. However, with the establishment of the separation habits, this step of on site preparation can be done quite efficiently with no extra cost[6]. The process requires a good planning. The use of high quality materials in the construction process reduces the wastes in the recycling process[7]. Until an established procedure of recycling of recycling of the wastes is developed, there are certain additional costs involved in recycling the building wastes. Efficient designs and use of high quality materials reduces the cost of recycling the wastes.
A set of guidelines are followed in preparation of the wastes for building wastes. As discussed earlier, material separation is a important step of recycling process. Containers for recycling are mainly set up on construction site and are clearly labeled. A trained construction personnel is mainly in charge of monitoring the process of material sorting. The goal of the recycling program is to retain as much value as possible[8]. The need for adoption of proper methods of recycling is high as it considerably reduces the demand up on new resources.
The different types of waste in the construction site include brick, concrete ferrous metal and other wastes. The concrete part can be recycled to be used in road pavement works. The compression strengths of the recycled waste is however needed to be evaluated in order to evaluate whether it can be used in the road pavement works.
The road construction projects mainly utilizes the natural rock material such as aggregate, crushed rocks, broken stones, sand and gravel, which can be easily obtained from the recycled materials obtained from recycling the building wastes. Furthermore, a rigid pavement mainly consists of concrete mix of cement or aggregates that can be easily obtained from the recycled wastes products[9]. Apart from reducing the burden in the landfills, one of the considerable advantages of making use of these waste products in road pavement is that it reduces the cost of construction of roads apart from providing effective solution to the associated problems of pollution and disposal of wastes.
The coarse and fine aggregate that is required for the concrete mixture can be obtained by crushing the old concretes. The reclaimed Portland cement concrete and the asphaltic concrete obtained from the wastes can be mixed with crushed aggregates for road pavement[10]. The old slabs which is a part of construction waste are mainly broken with pneumatic hammer that minimizes the sub-grade oil adhesion. The asphaltic concrete which is not required is mainly removed with an excavator and stockpiled in a separate manner.
The use of bottom ash and fly ash is significant in various layers of pavement. The fly ash is generally used as a bulk filler in the construction activities. This is because, fly ash mainly consists of fine siliceous glass of particle ranging from 10 to 100 micron[11]. The smaller size of the fly ash makes it suitable to be used as a filler in bituminous mix. It acts as a binder and thus used in road pavement works[12].
The use of waste materials in highway construction is quite significant in United States. Enormous quantity of construction wastes are generated in US annually, which are recycled in order to use in pavement of roads[13]. The construction and demolition waste mainly constitutes a major portion of the solid wastes production not only in US but also in the whole world. Preservation and conservation of the rapidly diminishing natural resources is a part of sustainable development[14]. Construction of road pavement with the help of the building wastes was first undertaken in United States followed by Japan.
The use of eco friendly alternatives is one of the essential criteria of sustainable development. The use of building wastes can be considered as a secondary or alterative material for road construction as it provides an economically as well as ecologically suitable alternative. However, in order to effectively use the construction wastes in development of the roads, it is essential to promote systematic waste management for reduction in the wastes generated. The building waste can be put to use only after recycling and therefore, the recycling process of the waste should be carried out in thorough supervision. Without discarding the building wastes in the landfills, those wastes can be rightly reused after recycling and therefore is needed to be stored in the recycling center. The waste act allows the contractors to reuse their construction wastes in the same construction work or the construction work of others[15]. Therefore, the use of building wastes proves to be a beneficial alternative to the materials that are used in road pavement.
The literature review was undertaken in order to evaluate whether the use of building wastes can be considered as an alternative for the materials need in road pavement works. With the increase in the generation of the construction wastes the pollution of the environment increases as well. With the reuse of the building wastes in these construction works, the aim of sustainable development can be achieved. However, the use of these building wastes as an alternative to the building wastes can be achieved only if the pavement to be constructed posses the same quality or the properties of the wastes or of similar quality in accordance to the recognized technical rules. The concrete wastes from the building wastes can therefore be recycled to be used in the road pavement process. With the recycling process, the original properties or the consistency of the waste materials can be achieved and therefore it is used in the construction process mainly in construction of highways.
The process of recycling is to be monitored and one of the significant steps in the recycling process is separation. The construction and the demolition wastes constitutes a major portion of the total wastes produced in the world and therefore the use of such wastes in road pavement is considered to be a viable alternative solution to the problem. Preservation of the environment is considered to be the essence of sustainable development and therefore use of building wastes in road pavements increases. On an average, almost 2.7 billion metric tons of aggregate is currently used in USA< out of which almost 10-20% is used in pavement while the road maintenance and construction work consumes almost 20-30%. The use of building wastes in construction of roads has a number of advantages. The use of such wastes not only reduces environmental pollution, but also helps in reducing the transport costs of those wastes[16]. The recycled concrete aggregate that can be used in road pavement works could be produced mainly from the building wastes only after testing.
The need of managing the huge amount of construction waste that is generated across the world has led to the generation of certain environmental friendly actions promoting the recycling and reuse of the building wastes. This has an advantage of developing suitable construction work that has the advantage of avoiding the deposits of large quantities of the building wastes in the land fills. This has a significant benefit as the reuse of these building materials considerably reduces the impact of the associated building work in the surrounding environment. However, the quality of the pavements that are developed by making use of the building wastes are needed to be tested in order to understand the viability of this approach.
The use of the construction and the building wastes in road pavement works are increasing considerably due to the number of advantages it offers. The recycled aggregates of the building wastes can be used for developing rigid pavements. The recycling technology used in recycling the building wastes is quite simple; which however requires an initial training. The entire process of recycling is quite simple and therefore can be used as an alternative to the original materials that is needed for the construction of pavements.
The literature review provides an insight of the probable use of building wastes in construction of road pavements.
References
Arulrajah, Arul, Mahdi M. Disfani, Suksun Horpibulsuk, Cherdsak Suksiripattanapong, and Nutthachai Prongmanee. “Physical properties and shear strength responses of recycled construction and demolition materials in unbound pavement base/subbase applications.” Construction and Building Materials 58 (2014): 245-257.
Silva, R. V., J. De Brito, and R. K. Dhir. “Properties and composition of recycled aggregates from construction and demolition waste suitable for concrete production.” Construction and Building Materials 65 (2014): 201-217.
Cardoso, Rafaela, Rui Vasco Silva, Jorge de Brito, and Ravindra Dhir. “Use of recycled aggregates from construction and demolition waste in geotechnical applications: A literature review.” Waste management 49 (2016): 131-145.
Behera, Monalisa, S. K. Bhattacharyya, A. K. Minocha, R. Deoliya, and S. Maiti. “Recycled aggregate from C&D waste & its use in concrete–A breakthrough towards sustainability in construction sector: A review.” Construction and building materials 68 (2014): 501-516.
Collins, R. J. “Reuse of demolition materials in relation to specifications in the UK.” Demolition and reuse of concrete and masonry (2014): 49-56.
Bhutta, Muhammad Aamer Rafique, Nor Hasanah, Nur Farhayu, Mohd Warid Hussin, Mahmood bin Md Tahir, and J. Mirza. “Properties of porous concrete from waste crushed concrete (recycled aggregate).” Construction and building materials 47 (2013): 1243-1248.
Ossa, A., J. L. García, and E. Botero. “Use of recycled construction and demolition waste (CDW) aggregates: a sustainable alternative for the pavement construction industry.” Journal of Cleaner Production 135 (2016): 379-386.
Toraldo, Emanuele, Sabrina Saponaro, Alessandro Careghini, and Edoardo Mariani. “Use of stabilized bottom ash for bound layers of road pavements.” Journal of environmental management 121 (2013): 117-123.
Fatima, Electricwala, Ankit Jhamb, and Rakesh Kumar. “Ceramic dust as construction material in rigid pavement.” American journal of civil engineering and architecture 1, no. 5 (2013): 112-116.
Hossain, Md Uzzal, Chi Sun Poon, Irene MC Lo, and Jack CP Cheng. “Comparative environmental evaluation of aggregate production from recycled waste materials and virgin sources by LCA.” Resources, Conservation and Recycling 109 (2016): 67-77.
Gómez-Meijide, Breixo, and I. Pérez. “Effects of the use of construction and demolition waste aggregates in cold asphalt mixtures.” Construction and Building Materials 51 (2014): 267-277.
Pasandín, A. R., and I. Pérez. “Mechanical properties of hot-mix asphalt made with recycled concrete aggregates coated with bitumen emulsion.” Construction and Building Materials 55 (2014): 350-358.
Rahman, Md Aminur, Monzur A. Imteaz, Arul Arulrajah, Jegatheesan Piratheepan, and Mahdi Miri Disfani. “Recycled construction and demolition materials in permeable pavement systems: geotechnical and hydraulic characteristics.” Journal of Cleaner Production 90 (2015): 183-194.
Mohammadinia, Alireza, Arul Arulrajah, Suksun Horpibulsuk, and Avirut Chinkulkijniwat. “Effect of fly ash on properties of crushed brick and reclaimed asphalt in pavement base/subbase applications.” Journal of hazardous materials321 (2017): 547-556.
Wu, Shaopeng, Jinjun Zhong, Jiqing Zhu, and Dongming Wang. “Influence of demolition waste used as recycled aggregate on performance of asphalt mixture.” Road Materials and Pavement Design 14, no. 3 (2013): 679-688.
Butera, Stefania, Thomas H. Christensen, and Thomas F. Astrup. “Composition and leaching of construction and demolition waste: inorganic elements and organic compounds.” Journal of hazardous materials 276 (2014): 302-311.
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