Sustainable Concrete with Industrial and Post-Consumer By-Products

Concrete is a long-lasting and less energy consuming construction material than steel and Aluminum. However, the concrete industry is the single largest consumer of natural resources. Several places around the world are facing faster rates of depletion of the resources needed for the manufacturing of portland cement, mining of aggregates, and water for making concrete. Each one of these materials has some environmental impact and, therefore, it gives rise to the sustainability issue. Further, manufacturing of the key constituent of concrete (portland cement) is one of the major emitter of the greenhouse gases, leading to global warming. Concrete provides ample opportunity for judicious use of industrial by-products and recycled materials in its manufacture resulting in numerous technical and environmental advantages leading to sustainability. This paper discusses recycling of industrial and post-consumer by-products combined with recent development in concrete technology for producing concrete as a sustainable construction material.