Reusing Construction Waste Towards Sustainable Building Construction and Its Effect for Composite Climate

Construction Industry is highly employment intensive and accounts & the projected investment in this industrial sector continues to show a growing trend. Construction activity leads to generation of solid wastes, which include sand, gravel, concrete, stone, bricks, wood, metal, glass, plastic, paper etc. The management of construction and demolition waste is a major concern for town planners due to the increasing quantum of demolition’s rubble, continuing shortage of dumping sites, increase in transportation and disposal cost and above all growing concern about pollution and environmental deterioration. Construction waste is bulky and heavy and is mostly unsuitable for disposal by incineration or composting. The growing population in the country and requirement of land for other uses has reduced the availability of land for waste disposal. Re-utilization or recycling is an important strategy for management of such waste. Apart from mounting problems of waste management, other reasons which support adoption of reuse/ recycling strategy are- reduced extraction of raw materials, reduced transportation cost, improved profits and reduced environmental impact. Above all, the fast depleting reserves of conventional natural aggregate has necessitated the use of recycling/ re-use technology, in order to be able to conserve the conventional natural aggregate and other material for other important works. Many opportunities exist for the beneficial reduction and recovery of materials that would otherwise be destined for disposal as waste. Construction industry professionals and building owners can educate and be educated about issues such as beneficial reuse, effective strategies for identification and separation of wastes, and economically viable means of promoting environmentally and socially appropriate means of reducing total waste disposed. Hence managing waste means eliminating waste where possible; minimizing waste where feasible; and reusing materials which might otherwise become waste. Solid waste management practices have identified the reduction, recycling, and reuse of wastes as essential for sustainable management of resources. The paper provides an overview and statistics of construction and demolition waste of the construction industry in India.