Environmental Sustainability in the Construction Industry Related to the Production of Aggregates Qualitative Aspects, Case Studies and Future Outlooks

Quarrying activity is a key-component of the GDP (gross domestic product) of industrialized economies, since various productive sectors depend on it. The mining industry also plays a strategic role as an employment source. In particular, the extraction of aggregates (sand, gravel, and crushed stone) is closely related to the building sector. By analyzing the building activity and its trend in time, this research will highlight the relations between quarrying activity and the construction industry, and will focus on its ability to activate the demand for aggregates, and how this could lead to environmental risks. Quarrying activity plays a role of strategic importance in the global economy. By securing a supply of mineral raw materials, such activity promotes the development of industrialized countries. The most common uses of aggregates are closely related to the construction sector: e.g. they can be used either without a difficult manufacturing process, as in road filling, railway ballast or armor stones, or they can be used in the production of high quality materials such as glass (quartz sands), ready-mixed concrete (made of 80% aggregates), pre-cast products, asphalt (made of 95% aggregates) (4), etc. Consequently, the resources of aggregates are used in the implementation of all built-up environments (3), in particular: • Housing: the construction of a typical new home uses up to 308 cubic meters of aggregates. • Civil Engineering (e.g. local hospitals, schools, bridges and flood protection, structures, etc.): the construction of a school uses up to 2,308 cubic meters of aggregates, whereas for a sports stadium, up to