CHARACTERISTICS OF RECYCLED AGGREGATES FROM CONSTRUCTION AND DEMOLITION WASTE ACCORDING TO THE ITALIAN EoW REGULATION

Construction and Demolition Waste (CDW) accounts for approximately one-third of the industrial waste generated in the European Union, posing significant environmental challenges. The building sector may significantly increase sustainability through effective CDW management and the production of good quality recycled aggregates (RAs). The construction sector is one of the main sectors involved in achieving environmental sustainability through the application of circular economy principles. In Europe, CDW recovery rates generally exceed regulatory target; only few countries don’t reach 70% recovery by weight outlined in Directive 2008/98/EC. ISPRA (Italian Institute for Environmental Protection and Research) data shows that the CDW recovery rate in Italy is over 81%. However, diverging perspectives exist; reports shows illegal CDW dumping in some Regions, compromising environmental and public health efforts. Despite progress, RAs still present challenges, mostly because of its heterogeneity. To safeguard the recovery, the End-of-Waste regulation for inert waste was introduced in Italy: the requirements introduced by Ministerial Decree 152/2022, replaced by the Ministerial Decree n.127/2024, could involve several issues to promote the CDW recovery. The aim of this study is to illustrate the characteristics of RAs with respect to the requirements set by the EoW regulation, in order to evaluate the effect of its implementation on the recovery feasibility. About 2500 laboratory certificates (chemical analysis and leaching tests) are collected; they referred to CDW and RAs quality monitoring in 2020-2022 carried out by 28 Italian recycling plants. These data were analyzed in order to statistically verify the compliance of RAs with the EoW requirements.