Can the concrete used in building and road construction be recycled and thus contribute to the 'green' techniques currently being developed? According to a degree thesis discussed at the University of the Republic of San Marino, created thanks to the collaboration of the San Marino Autotrasporti Association (ASA), the answer is affirmative.
The analysis, elaborated within the framework of the three-year course in Civil Engineering and conducted by Elia Biagetti with the coordination of the teacher Michele Bacciocchi, is based on a series of tests and verifications and has demonstrated how much the reuse of construction and demolition waste, coming example from houses demolished or roads being rebuilt, it is possible. From this point of view, therefore, the thesis represents "a first result that can provide the basis for further investigations, even of an experimental nature".
Interest in this area is fueled by some data describing the European context: on the continent, in fact, concrete represents "a third of all waste produced" in the sector and has "a significant impact from an environmental and costs for the community, in terms of health, costs for disposal and reclamation”, explains Bacciocchi illustrating Biagetti's work. The goal, therefore, "is to develop a circular economy model in the construction sector, a process necessary to aim at a system increasingly directed towards ecological transition and the protection of the planet".
"The thesis - explains the director of the degree course, Angelo Marcello Tarantino - is an example of scientific support to a local company which in this case supplied the aggregates recycled from the demolition of old reinforced concrete structures". In this sense, in fact, the study counted on the support of the San Marino Autotrasporti Association, a company that deals, among other things, with “the recovery and transformation of the particular class of waste involved in this study, as well as services such as excavations, transport, demolition and supply of aggregates for conglomerates”, explains Bacciocchi. The comparison with the Titano's enterprise, according to the teacher, "allowed us to ascertain the effective availability in San Marino of certified construction and demolition waste which could find new use as aggregates for concrete".
The thesis was defended at the University headquarters of the World Trade Center in Dogana during the session of last March 14th. Together with Biagetti, 13 other students graduated.
