ABSTRACT
In recent years there has been an increase in the number of construction works and
concrete is the main construction material for most of the structures that are being
built. Nigeria is a developing Country with a large population and land area therefore
a consumer of concrete. This paper considers the option of recycling concrete in
order to meet the high concrete demand and effective management of construction
and demolition waste. The test focused on the use of recycled concrete as coarse
aggregate for concrete production. The coarse aggregate component of normal
concrete was replaced with 100% Recycled Coarse Aggregate (RCA) in a 1:2:4
cement, sand and aggregate mix proportion and 0.6 water/cement ratio and this
resulted to 17.13N/mm2 28 days cube strength as against the normal 24N/mm2 for
normal concrete. The experiment recommends that recycled coarse aggregate can
serve as a viable resource for manufacturing concrete, especially low strength
concrete. The economic benefit of RCA concrete includes efficient reuse of
recovered coarse aggregate from demolished and collapsed buildings and Recycling
of concrete debris can make a contribution to reduce the total environmental impact
of the building sector.
