Protecting Water Quality Through Planning and Design Considerations
(Tech Brief #3)
Use of recycled materials is an inherently sustainable practice, and there are numerous benefits to recycling concrete in infrastructure projects. When using recycled concrete aggregate (RCA), some water quality issues can, on an infrequent basis, occur during both the construction and use phases.
However, water quality concerns associated with concrete recycling have been consistently shown to be mitigated through planning and design considerations, use of conventional best management practices (BMPs), and through readily implementable construction controls.
Author Tara Cavalline, University of North Carolina at Charlotte (UNC-Charlotte), summarizes the potential water quality impacts of concrete recycling, and offers a look at currently available mitigation strategies that can be employed during the planning and design of a project. A flowchart shows recommended actions for dealing with concrete that is being reused from different projects. A section on preventing drainage issues caused by sediments and solid precipitate in RCAs presents several workable solutions.
For the PDF of Tech Brief #3, please click on image above, or go to: http://www.cptechcenter.org/concrete-recycling/docs/RCA_TB3_water%20quality.pdf
Protecting the Environment During Construction
(Tech Brief #4)
Concrete recycling provides many environmental and economic benefits, and reuse of pavement materials in new highway applications has been shown to be one of the most effective ways to increase pavement sustainability (Van Dam et al. 2015). Similar to almost all types of other construction activities, some impacts to the environment—water quality, air quality, waste generation, noise, and other local effects—are possible during concrete recycling activities and should be addressed.
Tara Cavalline, UNC-Charlotte, presents strategies for minimizing negative construction impacts from use of RCA. This tech brief offers multiple suggestions for dealing with air and water quality issues, noise concerns, and waste management problems that may arise when using RCA. A summary of the potential environmental impacts of concrete recycling that can occur during construction, along with a summary of planning, layout, and construction controls, are presented in this technical brief.
For the PDF of Tech Brief #4, please click on image above, or go to: http://www.cptechcenter.org/concrete-recycling/docs/RCA_TB4_environment_protection.pdf
For the PDF of Tech Brief #1 titled “INTRODUCTION TO CONCRETE RECYCLING” (November 2016), please go to: http://www.cptechcenter.org/concrete-recycling/docs/RCA_TB1_introduction.pdf
For the PDF of Tech Brief #2 titled “QUANTIFYING THE SUSTAINABILITY BENEFITS OF CONCRETE PAVEMENT RECYCLING” (November 2016), please go to: http://www.cptechcenter.org/concrete-recycling/docs/Recycling-tech-brief-sustainability.pdf