Re-use of construction and demolition waste for geotechnical applications

Construction and demolition (C&D) waste is increasingly recycled, thus contributing more and more to reduce the environmental concern caused by the fresh aggregate consumption of construction industry. The increase in production of these recycled materials has to go along on one hand with the most possible detailed characterization of their physical and mechanical properties, that are largely variable, and on the other with the identification of the largest possible range of applications. In this work, samples of different recycled C&D waste inert have been collected from different stages of the recycling process and tested both chemically and mechanically to check the possibility of reusing them as materials for embankment fills or as aggregates for mortar. It is shown that in this case the fine grained material produced by the washing phase, usually disposed, has a pozzolanic activity and can be conveniently left into the aggregate, eventually contributing to the strength of mortar and to the efficiency of the recycling process