Recycling

Concrete is the most common construction material in the world. Three tons of concrete per year are consumed per capita. Because of its durability, strength and flexibility, it is used in wide variety of structures. 

Concrete contains cement, which has a high environmental impact. Cement is the source of approximately 8% of the world´s CO2 emissions.  
One more challenge related to our high consumption of concrete is the enormous use of virgin aggregates. 

It also has material waste streams in the form of returned, unused concrete from building sites and waste sludge from the washing of production equipment and trucks. 

We need to address these issues and find new ways to produce concrete in a more sustainable way. Linear production models resulting in high consumption of virgin raw materials and waste streams need to be replaced with more circular models.  

The Mapei RE-CON line offers products and specific solutions to increase the use of recycled raw materials and minimize waste streams. 

 

recycling-1
re-con-line
How can the RE-CON line products help you as a concrete producer? 
Save cost and reduce environmental impact by increased circular thinking: 
  • Save cost by transforming waste returned concrete into recyclable aggregates with the help of RE-CON ZERO Evo.
  • Increase the use of recycled aggregates and sand with in new concrete by using RE-CON AGG.
  • RE-CON AGG will also help to decrease the use of natural sand by using manufactured and clay-bearing sand, while still minimising the water and cement demand.
  • Decrease washing sludge waste with the help of RE-CON Dry Washing technology. This is a new innovation launched in the market. 

Returned concrete 

 

On average, 3% of all concrete being produced in the world comes back unused from building sites. This equates to 400 million tons of material. Most of this is transported to landfills. The effect of this unused concrete is 105 million tons of CO2 emissions, or the equivalent of 50 million cars being driven 10 000 km per year. 

Re-Con Zero EVO transforms your returned concrete into a recyclable aggregate, replacing virgin materials. 

 

recycling-returned-concrete
recycling-washing-sludge-waste

Washing sludge waste 

Concrete hardens fast! Therefore, mixing equipment and trucks need to be washed often to avoid build-up and possible damage on any surface that is in contact with fresh concrete. These activities require high volumes of water and generate waste sludge. It is estimated that several hundred million tons of sludge waste are transported to landfills annually. 

Mapei has for many years taken the lead in the industry through intense R&D work and projects that focus on new ground-breaking technologies combined with practical solutions. An example of this is the latest technology launched in the market, namely Re-Con Dry washing, which greatly reduces the waste sludge from washing of concrete trucks.  

The method received the award “Innovation of the year in the building industry” in Norway in 2020. 

Increased use of recycled
and demanding raw materials

Mapei has developed superplasticizers to enable increased use of water demanding aggregates like crushed recycled concrete, clay-bearing sand or manufactured sand with high fines content. This will in turn reduce the need for using virgin raw materials. 

 

recycling-increased-use-of-recycled
recycling-mapei-re-con-line

Mapei Re-Con line  

Helps concrete producers reduce the use of virgin raw materials and waste streams. 
Saving cost and lowering the environmental impact in concrete production. 

This is tangible sustainability in action.