Construction and demolition waste management in Korea: recycled aggregate and its application

Jeonghyun Kim

doi:10.1007/s10098-021-02177-x

Abstract

Construction and demolition waste generated in the Republic of Korea accounts for about half of the annual waste. The generation of construction waste is expected to increase gradually due to obsolete structures and reconstructions that have reached the end of their service life. Considering the geographical characteristics of Korea, where the land area is small and about 70% of which is mountainous, landfilling of waste is absolutely limited. Therefore, resource circulation such as recycling of construction waste is an urgent and important task. This paper overviews the current status of construction waste generation, treatment, and the flow of government policies in Korea. Furthermore, the current status, limitations, and stakeholder efforts regarding recycling of recycled aggregate from construction waste were reviewed. Data used in this paper were mostly collected from government reports, construction waste regulations, and research papers. The results show that construction waste management systems have been enacted and revised in line with social needs, and each stakeholder is making an effort to use the construction waste practically. The findings can provide valuable examples for countries that lack construction waste management systems.Graphic abstract

Highlights

The land area of the Republic of Korea is 99,720 k m2, which is only the 109th in the world, but it is 28th in population with about 51 million people
This study aims to review the current status of construction and demolition (C&D) waste generation and disposal, policies on C&D waste management
The research methods were established based on the follow‐ ing questions: (i) What is the current status of construction waste management? (ii) What are the existing construction waste policies? (iii) How is recycled aggregate being uti‐ lized? (iv) What are the policy contributions and limitations of the use of recycled aggregates?

Summary

Introduction

The land area of the Republic of Korea is 99,720 k m2, which is only the 109th in the world, but it is 28th in population with about 51 million people. Construction and demolition waste management in Korea: recycled aggregate and its application. The main research gap is the lack of a compre‐ hensive review of C&D waste management and utilization in Korea. Due to the lack of data, some researchers who have difficulty accessing data written in Korean refer to out-of-date information written in English that have already been withdrawn or are no longer valid. This study aims to review the current status of C&D waste generation and disposal, policies on C&D waste management. It includes the recent produc‐ tion status, specifications of recycled aggregate, environ‐ mental impacts, barriers to using the recycled aggregate, and practical application cases. This review paper can be a useful reference for other research on construction waste management

Objectives

Methods

Findings

Conclusion