Sustainable reuse of Brownfield properties in Sri Lanka as a gabion fill material

Abstract

Sustainable reuse of Brownfield properties includes efforts to reduce the environmental impact by reusing and recycling materials generated during building construction, demolition, or renovation. The waste generated by construction and demolition industry is becoming a growing menace to the social as well as the natural environment. Even though sustainable and environmentally friendly designs are considered as current trends, a sustainable and environmentally friendly solution for the waste generated by the construction industry is still being not looked upon. In this study, the intention was to find a solution for the waste generated by the construction and demolition industry in the form of a fill material for gabions. Five waste materials such as concrete, plasters, bricks, pebbles and bricks with mortar are selected for the study and they are tested for their durability and compressive strength. These results are compared with the values obtained for rubble which is the standard gabion fill material. In addition, the environmental, economical and social feasibility of constructing gabions with waste materials are also considered, so that a proper solution could be obtained for construction and demolition waste. This application could even be considered in the North and East of Sri Lanka where there is number of damaged buildings due to 30 year old war and those buildings have to be demolished for new construction.