China could meet half of construction demand with recycled sand: Study

A study led by Tsinghua University reveals that recycled sand and gravel from demolished buildings could meet up to half of China’s construction material demand by 2050. Utilizing advanced recycling technologies and circular economy practices, some provinces could recover as much as 65 percent of aggregates, significantly reducing reliance on natural resources. This shift is critical as China, the world’s largest consumer of aggregates due to its extensive infrastructure projects, seeks to alleviate environmental degradation caused by traditional extraction methods like riverbed sand mining. The researchers developed the China Aggregate Metabolism Provincial Scenarios (CHAMPS) model to analyze aggregate supply and demand across 31 provinces from 1978 to 2050. Their findings indicate that aggregate demand peaked in 2015 and is expected to decline by about 50 percent by 2050. Recycling rates, currently below 20 percent, could increase to between 35 and 65 percent with proper policy support, enabling recycled aggregates to constitute nearly half of the total supply and surpass manufactured aggregates