Sustainable Environmental Geotechnics Practices for a Green Economy

The revitalization of the global economy after the COVID-19 era presents Environmental Geotechnics with the opportunity to reinforce the need for a change in paradigm toward a green, circular economy and to promote aggressively the use and development of sustainable technologies and management practices. This paper aims to assist in this effort by concentrating on several thematic areas where sustainability solutions and future improvements are sought. These include the re-entry of construction and demolition waste, excavated material, industrial waste, and marine sediments into the production cycle and the reuse of existing foundations. Despite the recent trend in advanced countries toward recycling and waste-to-energy thermal treatment, landfills still constitute the most common municipal solid waste management practice, especially in low-and-middle-income countries, and technological solutions to improve their environmental footprint are presented. At the same time, remediation solutions are required to address the multitude of contaminated sites worldwide. Advanced developments that incorporate environmental, economic, and social dimensions are expounded, together with sustainable ground improvement solutions for infrastructure projects conducted in soft and weak soils. The topic of thermo-active geostructures concludes this paper, where, apart from their infrastructure utility, these structures have the potential to contribute as a renewable energy source