The Way Concrete Recycling Should Be

Abstract

Providing excellent performance as a structural material, concrete has long been deemed essential for modern civilization and recognized as a material that will continue to maintain and support the development of human society. Now that recycling of concrete in a completely closed loop has become technically feasible, concrete is being seen in a new light. This paper reviews the background to this development referring to changes in social systems and the introduction of new technologies. In view of the fact that consideration of the global environment will be required in the future at every step of the production of concrete and concrete structures, this paper goes on to overview the methods for identifying social needs related to concrete structures, the manner in which production systems of structures should meet such social needs, lifecycle design techniques for structures, and techniques for expressing the environmental performance of structures.
The authors finally discuss the nature of true recycling and a truly recycling-oriented society, based on the above-mentioned discussions.