A Study on the Sustainable Integration of Recycled Concrete in Building Construction

This paper investigates how recycled concrete aggregate (RCA) could be sustainably integrated into building construction to address urgent environmental issues. RCA provides significant environmental benefits, lowering landfill use and energy consumption by up to 85% and CO2 emissions by 90%, given that the construction sector generates almost 3 billion tonnes of waste annually, and raw materials account for almost half of building lifetime carbon emissions. Using an extensive review of current literature, the paper explores RCA production procedures, applications, and performance characteristics. Crushing, screening, and cleaning building and demolition waste produces RCA, which results in material with more porosity and water absorption than natural aggregates. Recycled concrete has been effectively used in structural components (beams, columns, slabs, foundations) and enhanced applications with suitable design changes despite showing 10-30% decreased compressive strength and greater sensitivity to environmental degradation. The main difficulties the study points to are unstable supply chains, price swings, and a dearth of uniform certification processes. The study suggests four strategic approaches to overcome these constraints: advanced aggregate treatment technologies, optimal mix design including additional cementitious materials, creation of stable recycling systems by policy measures, and integration with green building evaluation systems. These techniques help the worldwide shift towards circular economy ideas in the building industry by turning recycled concrete from an alternative material into a mainstream building solution.