Net incremental indirect external benefit of manufacturing recycled aggregate concrete

Abstract

Concrete waste (CW) either reaches landfill with mixed waste or crushed to produce crushed concrete (CC) used as a road-base product in Australia. The coarse portion of CC, referred to as recycled concrete aggregate (RCA) has the potential to be used as an aggregate in structural concrete replacing natural aggregate (NA). The environmental performance of RAC has been studied in comparison to NAC, in terms of direct environmental implications (DEI) concerning the processes in the production chain of these products. However, when replacement at industry level is considered, the implications go beyond the DEI, and affect a series of other products/processes within a system boundary, referred to..