Improving Circularity in the Construction Industry
The construction industry generates one third of the world’s waste—approximately 2 billion tonnes annually—and a staggering 40% of the world’s carbon dioxide emissions. There have been great strides made in C&D waste recycling, concrete and asphalt recycling, and steel recycling through both regulation and changing attitudes, but soil recycling uptake continues to lag. In fact, excess soil may reveal a vital solution to a global concern.
The growing demand for sand for concrete production—which reached 50 billion tonnes globally in 2021— has resulted in a worldwide shortage. An April report released by the UN Environmental Programme cited sand as the world’s second most exploited resource after water, warning that our consumption rate is far exceeding the planet’s virgin supply. Ocean extraction bans are gradually being implemented, which is an important step to preserving existing resources as well as the surrounding ecosystems. However, these important regulations are likely to increase the demand pinch.
GRT Sand
The good news is there are companies around the world like GRT who are rapidly exploring and testing how to produce concrete spec sand sustainably. At our Nanaimo facility, we have found that our input soils average 30% coarse sand. As we are now meeting the C33 sieve spec we are moving forward with tests to verify that GRT’s regenerated sand is a suitable substitute for virgin material.
Regenerated aggregate provides an opportunity for the construction industry to further reduce waste and create a local aggregate source. Specifically, regenerated sand presents a formidable opportunity for concrete manufacturers to source a high-quality supply that’s available much closer to the source (rather than travelling by barge across the ocean). In addition to this, regenerated sand is a 100% waste-to-reuse product; once separated, that volume of clean sand is diverted tonne for tonne from landfills. This material is quite literally being thrown in the garbage while the world scrambles to extract it new. Regenerated concrete sand is an environmental win-win.
The emphasis on federal and global resource management—and the programs that enable it— needs to broaden to include not just energy transition and water conservation, but also sustainable aggregates, including sand. At GRT we look forward to further refining our coarse sand output and working with concrete partners and government regulators to make solutions like this the new rule, not the exception.