Potentials for Mineral Construction Wastes as Secondary Resources in Switzerland - Case Study on Concrete Wastes

摘要

More than 11 million tons of mineral construction wastes arise every year in Switzerland. Due to growing demolition and renovation activities those waste streams are expected to increase in future. Mineral construction wastes can be re-integrated into the building material cycle as secondary resources. This both saves natural resources such as gravel and sand and conserves land-fill volume. To evaluate the potential of concrete containing wastes as secondary resources expected construction waste streams and building activities have to be known. A dynamic stock-driven material flow analysis is presented which is able to calculate the development of concrete stocks and flows for different scenarios. Results for a reference scenario show that there is an increasing demand on concrete for new constructions and for renovation. As also the output flow on concrete waste increases due to enhanced renovation activities, there might be a problem of absorbing all the concrete waste in future.