Special issue – Construction and Demolition Waste Valorization

Submission deadline: 31 January 2026

Scientific Journal: Waste Management (IF 7.1)

The construction sector is a cornerstone of global development, yet it generates over 3 billion tonnes of waste annually, contributing to resource depletion, environmental pollution, and climate change. As urbanization accelerates, the need to transition from linear “take-make-dispose” models to circular economy-based ones is urgent.

This special issue focuses on construction and demolition waste (C&D) valorization—based on the concept of viewing waste as a resource—and aims to spotlight cutting-edge research, technologies, and policies driving sustainable material recovery, reuse, and innovation.

This issue prioritizes interdisciplinary advancements bridging engineering, environmental science, economics, and social innovation. Key topics include:

Advanced Recycling Technologies: Innovations in AI-driven waste sorting, robotic dismantling, and recycling for recovering high-purity materials (e.g., polymers, rare metals) from mixed C&D.
High-Value Applications: Development of C&D-derived materials for 3D-printed construction, aggregates incorporating captured CO2, and energy storage systems (e.g., recycled concrete in battery anodes).
Circular Design Strategies: Digital tools like Building Information Modeling (BIM) for designing deconstructable structures and material passports to track lifecycle performance.
Policy and Economics: Critical analyses of extended producer responsibility (EPR) schemes, carbon credit systems for C&D recycling, End of Waste (EoW) criteria, and cost-benefit models for industrial-scale valorization.
Emerging Materials Science: Nano-engineered composites from C&D, bio-hybrid materials, and self-healing concrete integrating recycled components.
Classic Valorization Techniques: Recycling into aggregates for concrete, road bases, or embankments; repurposing inert materials as backfill or landscaping substrates; and using processed waste in precast elements applying enhanced sorting efficiency (e.g., AI/robotics) and reducing contamination of the recycled products. In this cases the assessment of the technical performance, the environmental compatibility and the additional co-benefits attainable by the investigated valorization strategies is of particular relevance.
LCA & LCC in C&D valorization.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/special-issue/321666/construction-and-demolition-waste-valorization