Recycling concrete, a reality? Complete recycling of concrete provides a quantum leap for the future of the environment, eliminating the need for quarries and dumping ground-sterilising rubble as well as drastically reducing CO2 emissions. Climate Change and Environment Recycling the planet’s resources is considered to be one of the key elements of sustainability. In this framework, an innovative technology has been developed, for fully recycling concrete, a material, which is considered to be the most widely used in the world after water and has as yet, never been attempted in the past. The process is based on the reclinkering of the hydrated cement to restore its properties and the consequent separation of its major components cement, sand and aggregates. The results of the project, which are also available from the demonstration trials, proved that fresh cement of equivalent properties can be obtained from previously hydrated Portland cement, while all the components of legacy concrete can be recycled, in order to obtain a very good quality CLC mortar. Furthermore, the techniques required for the above are those already used by the concrete industry, i.e. crushing, heating, ball milling, sieving, ensuring that costs will be similar to those of new concrete. The benefits from the complete recycling of concrete go far beyond the customary benefits of recycling. Primarily, it can eliminate the need for quarries, since its constituents are made of limestone, clay, sand and rocks, thus preserving nature itself. Furthermore, the need for storing the exponentially increasing amounts of ground-sterilising rubble from concrete after demolition, thus occupying the ground diminishes. Finally, as the production of cement from natural materials produces millions of tonnes of CO2 emissions per year, a major greenhouse gas, its drastic reduction provides a critical element for the future of the planet.
