Recent Tendencies in Waste-Based Aggregates in Concrete Production

Abstract

The development of construction and the growing popularity of concrete as a building material cause a continuous increase in the demand for non-renewable raw material such as aggregate. This paper aims to analyse the possibility of using various alternative aggregates for the production of concrete. In the first part of article a detailed analysis of the European aggregate production has thus been carried out and the requirements for concrete aggregates according to European Standards have been also presented. One of the goals of sustainable waste management is to reduce landfills by finding new ways to reuse and disposing waste. Therefore in the second part of article the waste-based aggregates have been analysed. Moreover, various types of alternative aggregates such as recycled and manufactured aggregates are discussed in detail. The article presents also the properties of selected alternative aggregates with a proposal of pre-treatment. Based on the presented analyses it can be concluded that each new waste that is sourced as aggregate in concrete should undergo detailed testing because of the different chemical and mechanical properties of various waste aggregates. Hence, specific research for each waste should be undertaken.