Lecture 7 - Construction & Demolition (C&D) Waste

Construction and demolition waste (C&D) is produced in the process of construction/demolition/renovation of residential buildings, commercial buildings and other structures and pavements, building roads, bridges, fly over, subways, remodelling, etc.

Different construction processes can produce different construction activities. During the demolition, construction and reconstruction of the buildings, mainly bricks, concrete pieces and mortar are generated. Wood, plastics, composites, and metals are generated during the processing of the construction material. Soil, sand and gravel are from excavations. 36% of the total waste generated in the EU is C&D waste, more significant than any other type of waste. Moreover, the C&D waste contains different materials. Therefore, a sorting process is needed as a part of the recycling process. To extract more secondary resources from the C&D waste, a pre-demolition audit is regarded as one of the best practices before demolition.

Following the waste hierarchy, waste avoidance and reduction take priority over recycling. Therefore, reconstruction is considered more resource efficient than demolishing and constructing a new building, here is a case study:

This project “German MENA University Network for Waste Management and Circular Economy”, implemented by the University Rostock (UR), Hamburg University of Technology (TUHH) and University of Technology Dresden (TUD), Jordan University of Science and Technology (JUST), Constantine university 3 Algeria, Ain Shams University Egypt and Cadi Ayyad University Morocco is funded by the PREVENT Waste Alliance, an initiative of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). The contents of the Wastepedia course are the sole responsibility of German-MENA University Network and do not necessarily reflect the positions of all PREVENT Waste Alliance members or official policy positions of the governments involved. More information: https://prevent-waste.net/en/.

We, the one responsible for the content of the Wastepedia Lecture, tried to uphold the copyright law. If you find a case of copyright infringement, please contact the HOOU support so unrightfully used content can be taken down. As we had no intention of using material of a third party without permission, please hold of from any legal action to give us time to correct possible mistakes made.