In the past few decades, prices for raw materials and energy have already risen and are expected to grow further as the Indian construction industry is expecting to see a growth of 6.6% annually, with reports indicating that 70% of India’s buildings are yet to be built and the need for construction materials is expected to increase fivefold (Sustainability Outlook, 2015). The demand for construction materials has also caused resource shortage in many parts of India and this is the main reason for delay and failure of a huge number of construction projects (Gulghane & Khandve, 2015). Many innovative initiatives such as fly ash bricks and M-sand have already been introduced in the Indian construction sector. These have had major positive impacts over the past decade. Construction and Demolition(C&D) waste is another material which has the potential to substitute the use of virgin raw materials to a large extent.

C&D Waste is defined as ‘Waste comprising of building materials, debris and rubble resulting from construction, re-modeling, repair and demolition of any civil structure’ (MoEF & CC, 2015). Management of C&D waste is a problem faced not only in India but by the global community and quantum of waste produced occupies a huge fraction of the total solid waste generation by mass. Even though the recyclables (plastic wood and metal) are segregated and reused almost immediately at the source of generation itself, rest of the waste is dumped in low lying areas. Very few ULBs in India have designated dump yards and further few have proper management facilities, resulting in C&D waste becoming a public menace in most situations.

Initiatives in Germany and many other developed countries have proven that C&D waste can be processed into useful products in the construction sector. Processing plants are established where C&D waste is crushed to form aggregates which are utilised to form different materials such as secondary bricks, paver blocks, pre-cast structures etc (Weil, 2006).

The Delhi Municipal Corporation (DMC) has implemented a pioneering project. It has set up a C&D waste processing plant where 2000 tonnes of debris is processed every day to make multiple products such as paver blocks, kerb stones, ready mix concrete and a variety of pre-fabricated structures (DMC, 2010). The processing plant has been running successfully since 2010. DMC is planning to setup two additional processing plants based on the success of this pilot plant. The Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation has also established a pilot scale unit of 1000 TPD processing capacity on similar lines (Amdavad Enviro Projects Private Limited) and the Coimbatore City Municipal Corporation has commissioned the establishment of a 200 TPD capacity processing unit (CCMC, 2015).

The above examples prove that processing and reusing of C&D waste is possible in India. Not only does it lead to management of waste but also results in job creation and income generation. This is helping to change the view point of the community from considering C&D debris as a waste to a resource material. Other ULBs in India could adopt these models which would help in greening of the Indian construction sector by minimising waste and by providing alternate green building materials. q