Reuse of waste materials in construction industry advocated

The properties of concrete and how fly ash, bagasse, sewer sludge, glass and natural pozzolans, rice husk and slag can be used as supplement to cement-concrete mix without compromising on the compressional strength of concrete.
Senior Research Scientist of Hydro-Quebec' Research Institute, Canada, Dr Jahangir Mirza has said this while addressing as keynote speaker in a two-day short course on "Reuse of waste materials in the construction industry" held at the Institute of Environmental Science and Engineering (IESE), National University of Science and Technology (Nust).
He mentioned that cement manufacturing consumed huge energy and produced large quantities of green house gasses (GHG), adding most of the developed countries ie North America, Canada, Britain, etc were closing down their cement production plants and number of plants in China, India, Pakistan, Mexico and Thailand were rising rapidly.
He warned that such a rapid rise in high GHG producing and energy consuming industry would add to the global air pollution. He argued that enhancement of waste materials in cement concrete would reduce our need for cement, and the saving in carbon dioxide even could be sold as carbon credits to the developed countries.
Dr Azam Raza Khan from Curtin University, Perth, Australia supported ideas presented by Dr Jahangir Mirza, and suggested that residual aluminium bauxite, silica ash and fly ash could be successfully used as supplement to cement concrete and road-based material again resulting in cost reductions.
Dr Zahiruddin Khan, an IESE Associate Professor, presented a range of ideas on industrial waste reduction at source and treatment followed by reuse, recycle, replacement and reconstitution of industrial waste.
The participants took keen interest and actively participated in the open discussions during the technical sessions.
The course was attended by over 40 participants from all walks of life and civil engineering professionals from consulting firms, contractors and educational institutions from Rawalpindi/Islamabad, Taxila, Lahore, Faisalabad and as far as Jamshoro.
At the conclusion, Nust Pro-Rector Rear Admiral M. Mushtaq presented certificates to the participants and to the guest resource persons. IESE Principal Dr Ishtiaq A. Qazi thanked the course participants and resource persons.