Utilization of Recycled Coarse Aggregates in Concrete Production

The continuous accumulation of solid waste is posing a great threat to the environment globally. The load on Indian dumpsites is increasing everyday as the rate of waste processing is much slower than the rate of wast generation. On the other hand, governments are imposing stringent mining regulations to prevent illegal mining of resources like sand and stones from rivers. These materials are the key constituents in concrete production. Hence, it is becoming difficult for the industry to meet the demand of fresh concrete for ongoing infrastructure projects. Studies focusing on finding alternatives to conventional aggregates have been going on for many years. This will solve two problems, first, appropriate disposal of waste materials, and second, prevention of overmining of natural aggregates (NA). The present paper reviews the effectiveness of using recycled coarse aggregates (RCA) in cement-concrete production and presents a small experimental case study on locally procured RCA used in concrete production.