Potential of BREEAM-C to support building circularity assessment: Insights from case study and expert interview

Lack of knowledge and tools hampers circular transition in the construction industry. This study analyzes the potential of a framework of circular indicators put forward by the Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method (BREEAM-C) as an answer to the prevailing need of a metric for building circularity assessment to...

Release behavior of soluble salts in MSWI bottom ash used as road basement materials under continuous rainfall conditions

The bottom ash is increasingly used as a substitute aggregate material in road construction in China, and road salting is the major salt source in groundwater. Continuous rainfall releases soluble salts from the bottom ash subgrade into the surrounding soil and groundwater, resulting in potential hazards. Different methods were employed to...

Life cycle assessment of material footprint in recycling: A case of concrete recycling

Meeting the current demand for concrete requires not only mining tons of gravel and sand, but also burning large amounts of fossil fuel resources in cement kilning. Consequently, concrete recycling is crucial to achieving a material-efficient society, especially with the application of various categories of concrete and the goal of phasing...

An overview of the waste hierarchy framework for analyzing the circularity in construction and demolition waste management in Europe

The construction sector is the biggest driver of resource consumption and waste generation in Europe. The European Union (EU) is making efforts to move from its traditional linear resource and waste management system in the construction sector to a level of high circularity. Based on the theory of circular economy, a new paradigm called waste...

The Effect of Wet Treatment on the Distribution and Leaching of Heavy Metals and Salts of Bottom Ash from Municipal Solid Waste Incineration

One of the main challenges of bottom ash reutilization is heavy metal and salts' leaching potential. The effect of wet treatment on chemical composition and leaching toxicity of bottom ash were investigated in this study to mitigate this leaching potential. Batch leaching and column leaching tests were first conducted to investigate the...

Life Cycle Assessment of 3D Printing Geo-polymer Concrete: An Ex-ante Study

Three-dimensional (3D) printing and geo-polymers are two environmentally oriented innovations in concrete manufacturing. The 3D printing of concrete components aims to reduce raw material consumption and waste generation. Geo-polymer is being developed to replace ordinary Portland cement and reduce the carbon footprint of the binder in the...

Eco-efficiency assessment of technological innovations in high-grade concrete recycling

The increasing volume of Construction and demolition waste (CDW) associated with economic growth is posing challenges to the sustainable management of the built environment. The largest fraction of all the CDW generated in the member states of the European Union (EU) is End-of-life (EOL) concrete. The most widely applied method for EOL concrete...

Closing the loop of EOL concrete

Production of waste materials, via industrial and human activities, creates big environmental and economic problems but also opportunities to recover valuable resources. EU28 currently generates 461 million tons per year of ever more complex Construction and Demolition Waste (CDW) with average recycling rates of around 46%. There is still a...

Life cycle assessment and life cycle costing for demolition waste management

Ninety five percent of the construction and demolition waste is recycled in the Netherlands. Most of it is used for low value applications such as road base materials; the use of secondary material in buildings is still less than 3%7. In order to recover waste for higher value applications, enhancing selective demolition and waste management...

Closing the loop of EOL concrete

Production of waste materials, via industrial and human activities, creates big environmental and economic problems but also opportunities to recover valuable resources. EU28 currently generates 461 million tons per year of ever more complex Construction and Demolition Waste (CDW) with average recycling rates of around 46%. There is still a...

Life cycle assessment and life cycle costing for demolition waste management

Ninety five percent of the construction and demolition waste is recycled in the Netherlands. Most of it is used for low value applications such as road base materials; the use of secondary material in buildings is still less than 3%7. In order to recover waste for higher value applications, enhancing selective demolition and waste management...

Recycling of End of Life Concrete to New Concrete (PPT)

Recycling end-of-life concrete: The C2CA project

Magnetic fluid equipment for sorting of secondary polyolefins from waste

The paper presents the researches made on the FP7 project „Magnetic Sorting and Ultrasound Sensor Technologies for Production of High Purity Secondary Polyolefins from Waste” in order to develop a magnetic fluid equipment for sorting of polypropylene (PP) and polyethylene (PE) from polymers mixed waste streams. Because both PP and PE float in...

Recycling of WEEE by magnetic density separation

The paper introduces a new recycling method of WEEE: Magnetic Density Separation. By using this technology, both grade and recovery rate of recycled products are over 90%. Good separations are not only observed in relatively big WEEE samples, but also in samples with smaller sizes or electrical wires.