Mechanical and durability properties of concretes containing recycled lime powder and recycled aggregates

• Recycled lime powder (RLP) does not seem to have any pozzolanic properties.
• RLP shows very good potential as a partial cement replacement material.
• Replacement of natural aggregates affects marginally the mechanical properties.
• We found good correlation exists between sorptivity and open porosity.

According to a recent report by the European Commission, within the European Union, the construction and demolition wastes come to at least 450 million tons per year. Roughly 75% of the waste is disposed to landfill, despite its major recycling potential. The bulk constituents of demolition debris are concrete (50–55%) and masonry (30–40%) with only small percentages of other materials such as metals, glass and timber. In Cyprus, at present, recycling of waste materials is practically inexistent and almost the entire demolition waste products are disposed in landfill sites, with all possible economic, technical and environmental impacts. This research paper presents the evaluation and the effective reuse of waste construction materials, such as recycled lime powder (RLP) and recycled concrete aggregates (RCA), disposed to landfill sites in Cyprus, due to the lack of a lucid recycling policy and knowledge. Results show that both RLP and RCA have the potential to produce good quality and robust concrete mixtures both in terms of mechanical and durability performance.