A case study on the viability of using increased quantities of recycled concrete aggregates in structural concrete for extending environmental conservation in North Cyprus

Increase in construction activities leads to increased consumption of natural aggregates resources used in concrete and increased quantity of generated construction and demolishing wastes that are hazardous for the environment. Being a developing country that had faced wars and that owns numerous aged and damaged buildings, North Cyprus still lacks facilities for processing construction and demolishing wastes in the form of recycled concrete aggregates (RCA). Initiation of practices in North Cyprus on RCA-concrete can be promoted if the performance of new concretes including local RCA are proven to be successful. Additionally, previous international studies on the use of recycled concrete aggregates have been observed to lack in covering certain critical aspects such as employing high contents of not laboratory-made but real and damaged RCA having known source and age information and without other waste impurities in the manufacture of high-strength concrete mixes. This case study presents results of experimental investigations that are carried out for the first time on the performance of RCA that has aged in North Cyprus, while providing detailed experimental data covering the mentioned missing aspects in the literature. The results have shown that with 100% replacement of quarried aggregates with recycled aggregates, 0.711-m cube of demolishing waste could be eliminated per each meter cube of new concrete while saving that quantity of quarried aggregates at the same time. The new concrete produced with this high waste content has been observed to reach up to significantly high strength values as 49 MPa within 90 days, as an indicator of a successful performance. Hence, the work confirms the use of recycled concrete aggregates as an efficient and viable environmental-friendly method to preserve aggregate resources in North Cyprus while reducing demolishing wastes.