Possibilities in concrete industry towards circular economy through industrial symbiosis

Abstract

Major challenges of traditional linear concrete industry are utilisation of large amount of non-renewable resources and significant air emissions during production, utilisation and demolition of concrete structures. At the same time, concrete industry has a high potential for a positive shift towards more sustainable production and lower ecological footprint. One of the strategies is to use waste materials and byproducts from other industries as valuable raw materials in concrete industry. This loop can be closed only by taking into account properties of a certain waste material and using them for preparation of special purpose concrete products, in which these properties are favourable. Other strategy is designing concrete tailored for certain environment and service life, making it optimised for that specific purpose. The paper presents some of the available waste and recycled materials in Croatia and research focused on their potential application in civil engineering. The possibilities of utilisation are first explored in laboratory conditions, with the results presented in this paper as an outcome. Based on the obtained results some of the potential areas of application are proposed, in which concrete prepared with these waste materials becomes alternative to classical concrete. Both original scientific research results are presented, but also prototype of products produced based on the scientific research.