Abstract

Construction industry is one of the most important fractions of economy worldwide. This industry consumes enormous amounts of raw materials and produces considerable waste. The optimization of construction material usage not only saves costs but also can significantly contribute towards sustainable development. The concept of recycling the construction and demolition rubble is being addressed in this study as a solution. The recycling of concrete, resulting from both the construction activities and the demolition activities, in order to be used as a source of aggregate is being focused upon in this study. Although the idea of using recycled concrete has been implemented widely in the United States and European construction industries, one can find that the idea is still limited in most of the developing countries and Egypt is one of these nations as well. This study raises the questions of: Why the use of recycled concrete, as a source of aggregate, is still limited in Egypt and why are contractors and consultants still not encouraged to adopt the Recycled Concrete Aggregate notion even in small construction jobs? In order to address these questions, a survey has been performed within a wide range of entities that are involved in the construction and demolition waste industries in Egypt. Most of those entities have figured out that the absence of the codes of practices, field experiences, and the know-how, and the environmental and economic concerns are some of the main reasons behind these questions. The study introduces the problem and an overview on the situation in Egypt concerning the recycling of concrete. It tackles the development of the concept of concrete recycling and presents the past world experiences in the field of concrete recycling. Moreover, a survey questionnaire is being presented covering the situation in the Egyptian construction and demolition waste industries. It also provides the know-how of recycling concrete in the form of the layout of production plants, recycling process and crushing mechanisms. In addition, the material (Recycled Concrete Aggregate) performance and the environmental and economic concerns in recycling concrete are being tackled in the study. The study attempts to develop both an economic model to assess the national savings that could result from recycling concrete waste and also to evaluate the viability of creating markets for recycled concrete aggregate. Moreover, some specification limits for recycled aggregate properties are being proposed by the study. The overriding conclusions of the study reveal that the government should address codes of practices and should also address taxes, levies, and subsidies in order to encourage the application of concrete recycling. Some recommendations for future studies are also presented.

School

School of Sciences and Engineering

Degree Name

MS in Construction Engineering

Date of Award

7-24-2007

Online Submission Date

7-24-2007

First Advisor

Abou Zeid, Mohamed

Committee Member 1

Ezz El-Din, Ahmed

Committee Member 2

Abd El-Naby, Sherif

Document Type

Thesis

Extent

200 p.

Rights

The author retains all rights with regard to copyright.

The American University in Cairo grants authors of theses and dissertations a maximum embargo period of two years from the date of submission, upon request. After the embargo elapses, these documents are made available publicly. If you are the author of this thesis or dissertation, and would like to request an exceptional extension of the embargo period, please write to thesisadmin@aucegypt.edu.

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