Understanding the current state of practice in the construction and demolition waste sector through the lenses of circular economy: The Italian recycled materials market for the road construction sector

Construction and demolition waste (CeDw) is mainly produced during the construction, demolition, or renovation activities of civil engineering structures and it accounts for a remarkable amount of the total C&Dw generated, as it is estimated to be around 30%. This proportion differs between countries belonging to different types of economies and tends to be greater in countries with developing economies reaching 74% of total annual production. There is a plethora of applications that C&Dw can be used for under a circular economic model and in this research a focus is being given in the exploitation of C&Dw within the pavement engineering sector, and more specifically, in the utilization of said waste in road earthworks. Circular Economy can act as a steppingstone towards the uptake of C&Dw recycling and exploitation. To understand the state of practice that exists, a market and an implementation analysis have been conducted in Italy. The current applications of C&Dw recycling into road projects were analyzed along with the existing regulations, and local producers. The results projected the various challenges faced by the involved stakeholders, along with the barriers that hinder the wide recycling of C&Dw in road engineering projects. Finally, the proposed national action plans are analyzed and the future potential exploitation of C&Dw is put into context. The future of the specific research is going to involve a full scale, on-site implementation of C&Dw in a defined road segment.