ECOTERRA - Journal of Environmental Research and Protection www.ecoterra-online.ro 2016, Volume 13, Issue 3 19 Concrete production with recycled materials in the sustainable development context Carmen Florean, Henriette Szilagyi, Carmen Dico NIRD URBAN-INCERC Cluj-Napoca Branch, Cluj-Napoca, Romania. Corresponding author: C. Florean, carmen.florean@incerc-cluj.ro Abstract . The waste coming from demolition and construction can provide a source of recyclable materials, useable in the construction industry. In terms of environmental impact, the waste recycling and reuse from construction and demolition activities, reduce the occupied authorized landfills area. Also, by recycling and reuse, it is achieved an economy of non-renewable natural resources. From the economic point of view, the use of recycled materials in place of the natural resources, that reach extremely high costs, it becomes, from one year to another, a solution increasingly more advantageous. This paper presents some opportunities to recycling various waste (glass, polypropylene, filler, ceramic blocks) by using them in the concrete production. The experimental researches have revealed the opportunity to reconsider the four waste studied types, by introducing them as raw materials in the concrete preparation. Moreover, there is the possibility to obtain some types of concrete with special characteristics. Therefore, we can say that the waste recycling and reusing, and their revaluation as raw materials for the concrete production, is a technology which meets the sustainable development criteria. Key Words: concrete, glass, polypropylene, filler, ceramic block, sustainability. Introduction . A significant part of construction and demolition waste are coming from various activities, such as demolition of whole or part of buildings and infrastructure works, construction and roads maintenance. The construction and demolition waste can be a raw material resource in the construction industry. Reuse of construction and demolition waste reduces the space for authorized landfills and allows the saving of natural resources. From economical point of view, the use of recycled materials in place of natural resources gets, from one year to another, an increasingly more advantageous solution, reducing the energy, extraction and sintering costs (Rao et al 2007; Terec & Szilagyi 2011; Gheorghe et al 2011). Thus, the EU Member States are obliged till to 2020, to make the preparation for reusing, recycling and other material recovery operations of non-hazardous waste material from construction and demolition activities. The minimum level required by the Directive 98/2008 is 70% from the total mass of non-hazardous waste from construction and demolition activities. This Directive promotes: - the sustainable use of natural resources and classification in "waste hierarchy"; - the minimizing of adverse impacts on population health and on the environment; - measures to ensure the decoupling of (broken) link between economic growth and waste generation; - the introduction of measures to streamline the penalties system, commensurate with the effect, the ultimate goal being to discourage those who violate the provisions of the imposed rules; - the introducing of measures which ensure the sorting at source, the collection and the recycling of priority waste streams. Currently, the waste is deposited on landfill, recycled or incinerated. Some countries (Germany, Netherlands, Denmark and Belgium) achieved recycling rates of up to 80% (Puskas et al 2015). Waste types from construction and demolition . The amount of generated waste from construction and demolition represents approximately 25% of all EU generated waste and they are (Huang et al 2007; Bhanbhro et al 2014; Meyer 2009; European Comission, EUROSTAT 2012): - materials resulting from construction and buildings demolition. They may be based on cement, bricks, tiles, ceramics, stone, plaster, plastic, metal, iron, wood, glass, scrap carpentry, expired construction materials;