Construction and demolition waste (C&D) mainly consists of debris collected during demolition, construction, and renovation of buildings. This type of waste, mostly in bulk and heavy materials, such as concrete, brick, wood, metals, glass, and salvaged building components, contains a mixture of mineral and non-mineral materials. To conserve environmental and natural resources, recycling as much C&D waste is highly desired.
The construction industry is responsible for a large part of the solid waste stream in India. The materials in construction waste are typically bulky and heavy, they are not suitable to be disposed of or landfilled at a landfill site which often has limited space available. The disposal cost can be very high due to the transportation cost to haul the debris away. Moreover, it is environmentally unfriendly to transport these wastes over long distances to a landfill site (sometimes hundreds of miles away) for disposal.
Because of the different types of building materials, This waste category is significant.
Major components
- Cement concrete
- Bricks
- Cement plaster
- Steel (from RCC, door/window frames, roofing support, railings of the staircase, etc.)
- Rubble • Stone (marble, granite, sandstone)
- Timber/wood (especially demolition of old buildings)
Minor components
- Conduits (iron, plastic)
- Pipes (GI, iron, plastic)
The process of construction and demolition waste includes
- Receiving of Construction and Demolition Waste at site
- Weighing
- Grading(loose soil to landfill and road building)
- Processing/Sizing unit/breaking
- Output (different sizes of aggregates, road building, landfill, used in the making of blocks and tiles, Ready Mix concrete).