Recycling Rubble can help rebuild Syria faster

Damian Carrington, Environment editor, The Guardian, 31 March 2023

“Concrete rubble from destroyed buildings in Syria can be safely recycled into new concrete, scientists have shown, which will make the rebuilding of the war-hit country faster, cheaper and greener. Syria, which was also hit by a huge earthquake in February, has a vast amount of concrete rubble, estimated at 40m tonnes. The key barrier to recycling this waste is ensuring that the new concrete is as strong and safe…” Read on

This article focuses on the work of Dr Abdulkader Rashwani, a Cara Syria Programme Fellow and concrete expert, who has been partnered by Cara with University of Sheffield academics to demonstrate that the recycling of concrete rubble, sadly in plentiful supply following over ten years of civil war and the recent earthquakes in Syria, provides a cheap and reliable concrete aggregate for use in the reconstruction of Syria and other countries recovering from war and natural disaster.

Listen to allied … interview with Sheffield collaborator John Provis, Professor of Cement Materials Science and Engineering.