Trade Journals for the Concrete Industry

Construction and demolition waste (CDW) is one of the priority targets of European Commission, because of the large volume of generated waste and its high potential for reuse and recycling. In Europe around 750 million tons of CDW is generated every year [1]. The average recovery rate for EU27 is below 50% [2]. Moreover, a negligible percentage of CDW is destined to reuse mainly because the majority of the existing buildings was not designed for disassembly and reuse and recovered materials are confined to low-grade applications. In terms of market potential, the construction sector represents about 8.8% of Gross Domestic Product, 29% of industrial employment and had a turnover around € 1600 billion in 2013 in EU28 [3]. The gradual increase of waste and limited landfill space boost recycling efforts, which benefits the development of the CDW recycling services market. Legislative goals are targeting 70% recycling of CDW waste by 2020, which is a key driver for this market. The push for CDW recycling has further prompted waste management companies to optimize collection systems and increase recycling levels to sustain market revenues.