Environmentally-sound Management of Construction and Demolition Waste

—Wise Utilization Aimed at Environmental Pollution Control and Development of Recycled Construction Materials—

Abstract

With rapid urbanization and economic growth comes population growth and increasing amounts of waste generation, especially in big cities and industrial zones in Vietnam. Currently, there is no appropriate recycling or resource recover systems in place, not only for domestic waste but also for construction and demolition waste (CDW). In fact, most CDW is dumped at designated areas without any measures set to protect the environment. Based on this background situation and a request for technical cooperation from JICA, the Vietnamese government, Saitama University of Japan, and the National University of Civil Engineering (NUCE) in Vietnam are presently implementing an international collaborative project to address proper management and recycling of CDW under the JST-JICA Science and Technology Research Partnership for Sustainable Development (SATREPS) scheme. This article describes the current condition of CDW management in Vietnam, and along with introducing the activities of SATREPS, it also summarizes the challenges and future issues related to the promotion of CDW recycling in Vietnam.