Investigation on the possibilities for recycling construction and demolition waste in to building materials in Tanzania

Abstract

The scope of this study is to investigate the quality of C&D waste in Tanzania and the possibilities for reusing, recycling and upcycling this waste in the production of building materials. Even though there is currently no landfill for solid waste disposal in Tanzania, open air dumping sites are used. Dumping C&D waste puts pressure for acquisition for large portions of land in order to accommodate the growing waste generation. Due to population growth and limitation land for waste disposal will put extra pressure on C&D waste management in future. The use of C&D waste for building material production can be a best option not only for waste management but also for providing an alternative building material source. Materials used in this study were concrete/masonry rubble recovered from building construction and demolition sites in Dar es Salaam. Concrete/masonry rubble was crushed to produce aggregates. The results show that the recycled aggregates are mineralogically different from natural aggregates; however, their composition is suitable for use as building materials in Tanzania, e.g. as replacement of aggregates in concrete