A literature review comprising 163 publications published over a period of 26 years from 1992 to 2018 is presented in this paper. This review discusses the generation and recycling of construction and demolition waste (CDW) as well as its main uses as raw materials for the construction engineering sector. This review pays attention to the use of CDW aggregates for sand, pavements/roads, bricks, ceramics, cementitious materials, and concrete productions, as well its uses as eco-friendly materials for water decontamination. The physical-chemical and mechanical characteristics of recycled aggregates play an important role in their correctly chosen applications. The results found in this literature survey allow us to conclude that recycled aggregates from CDW can be successfully used to produce construction materials with quality comparable to those produced with natural aggregates. We concluded that the use of CDWs as raw materials for manufacturing new construction materials is technically feasible, economical, and constitutes an environmentally friendly approach for a future construction and demolition waste management strategy.
The concern about the environment has been leading the construction industry to adopt more sustainable practices. The main environmental impact of concrete is related to CO2 emissions coming from cement, particularly from the cement content in concrete. For this reason, this research evaluates the performance of concretes with partial replacement of Portland cement by limestone filler and silica fume. These concretes were proportioned to improve particles’ packing and paste volume optimization. The compressive strength was determined to assess their mechanical performance. Their durability was investigated by capillary absorption and chloride penetration resistance. Results indicate that concretes showed a better efficiency in terms of binder intensity, with values close to the minimum found in literature (5 kg.m-3.MPa-1). It was also observed that even concretes with cement content lower than the minimum recommended by standards showed better performance than regular concretes regarding the chloride’s penetration.