Sustainability requirements for concrete block elements based on recycled CDW: A case study for supporting social production in southern Brazil

摘要

Although increasingly criticized and challenged, linear production models, in which goods are manufactured from raw materials to be sold, used and discarded as waste, still dominate the global economy. A deep change is necessary to provide more sustainable production models, based on the concepts of circular economy. In the construction industry, a promising alternative involves recycling construction and demolition waste (CDW) for concrete production, reducing the need for natural aggregates. However, to be successful, CDW products must attend all normative and quality requirements. This paper describes a model created to analyze how different requirements interact and influence the definition of elements to produce using CDW. The case study has special meaning because the results were used to help implement a cooperative production process on a picker's cooperative of southern Brazil, a social technology initiative that helps people overcome poverty barriers while benefiting the environment and respecting strict material standards. To this end, the model was constructed considering customer expectations, environmental and technical requirements, and became a key tool to decide that initial production should focus on concrete blocks. The model can be extended to other situations, helping critical decision-making regarding trade-offs between the different value dimensions considered in the study.