Open Collections

Abstract

Due to the slowing end-­‐use market for recycled concrete aggregate (RCA) in Metro Vancouver concrete recycling facilities are at limited capacity to accept concrete waste. As a result of this, concrete waste is not being recycled and re-­‐uesd. Instead, it is being stockpiled at recycling facilities, and may be ending up in landfills outside the region. With concrete waste making up about one-­‐third of Vancouver's total waste, this is an issue that needs to be addressed. This report first identifies what the main barriers are to increasing the market demand of RCA in Metro Vancouver, and second recommends a number of actions that will help alleviate the identified barriers. This information is intended to help Metro Vancouver develop policy which will increase the use of RCA, and ultimately eliminate any concrete from entering landfills. The extent of this study has been limited due to the fact that there were no interviews conducted with municipal or provincial government representatives. However, this further highlights a common complaint from industry representatives: that communication with these levels of government, on this issue, is difficult to establish. Future research into how these communication networks can be strengthened would serve both the industry and different levels of government well.