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  • Review Article
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Recycled aggregate concrete design, application and challenges

Nature Reviews Clean Technology volume 2, pages 67–83 (2026)Cite this article

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Abstract

Recycled aggregate concrete (RAC) reuses aggregates from construction and demolition waste (CDW), reducing mining for natural sand and gravel and landfilling with CDW. Historically, concerns about the quality, durability and safety of RAC prevented its broader application, but technical advances have enabled its use in buildings and other infrastructure. In this Review, we discuss the production, properties and application of RAC, the barriers to its uptake and pathways to increase application. Recycled aggregate is produced from CDW and can be processed to remove or strengthen old mortar before use in RAC. Compared with an identical mix ratio of natural aggregate concrete (NAC), RAC often has inferior construction-related and structure-related performance, but can have superior function-related performance. There are structural considerations when using RAC, such as safety and durability, which can be addressed through confinement techniques, optimized reinforcement design and the use of composite structures. Although many technical challenges have been overcome, key barriers to application still remain, including fragmented standards, inadequate policy support, under-developed market mechanisms and delayed social acceptance. Policymakers, engineers, materials scientists and architects will need to work together to enable a shift from a linear model of NAC-based construction (NAConstruction) to a more circular one with RAC-based construction (RAConstruction).

Key points

  • Recycled aggregate can be produced and its quality can be managed through sorting, crushing and screening construction and demolition waste (CDW), and treating the recycled aggregate (RA) to remove or strengthen old mortar.

  • Through appropriate mix design, the inferior performance in construction and structure of recycled aggregate concrete (RAC) compared with natural aggregate concrete (NAC) is controllable.

  • Strategies to apply RAC can include confinement techniques, optimized reinforcement design and the use of composite structures.

  • Technical, policy, market and social challenges persist in the large-scale application of RAC. Divergent regional standards and policy instruments create varying levels of market maturity for RAC, leading to disparity in applications between regions.

  • Replacing NAC with RAC as the default building material could enable more circular building practices.

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Fig. 1: Recycled aggregate production.
Fig. 2: Recycled aggregate characterization and enhancement.
Fig. 3: Interfacial transition zones in concrete.
Fig. 4: Impact of the RA replacement ratio on mechanical and durability performance of recycled aggregate concrete.
Fig. 5: Recycled aggregate concrete structures.
Fig. 6: NAConstruction and RAConstruction systems.

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Acknowledgements

Financial support was received from the Guangxi Major Talent Program (to J.Z. Xiao), the National Key Research & Development Program of China (2022YFC3803400) and the Science and Technology Major Project of Guangxi Province (AA24263035). The authors acknowledge the contributions of Y. Lu, T. Ye, J. Ning, Y. Tang, Y. Gao, X. Zhang, Z. Duan, T. Ding, L. Li and M. Yu from Tongji University, H. Yang from Guangxi University and R. Vasco Silva from Universidade de Lisboa in the preliminary discussions and resource collection.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Structural Engineering, College of Civil Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai, China

    Jianzhuang Xiao  (肖建庄), Caihua Yu  (俞才华), Bo Wang  (王玻), Hui Liu  (刘惠) & Xuwen Xiao  (肖绪文)

  2. College of Civil Engineering and Architecture, Guangxi University, Guangxi, China

    Jianzhuang Xiao  (肖建庄)

  3. Institute of Science and Technology for Carbon Peak & Neutrality, Guangxi University, Guangxi, China

    Jianzhuang Xiao  (肖建庄)

  4. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Kowloon, Hong Kong, China

    Chi Sun Poon  (潘智生)

  5. CERIS, Department of Civil Engineering, Architecture and Environment, Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal

    Jorge de Brito

  6. State Key Laboratory of Engineering Materials for Major Infrastructure, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Southeast University, Nanjing, China

    Jiaping Liu  (刘加平)

  7. Center for Advanced Construction Materials, University of Texas at Arlington, Arlington, TX, USA

    Surendra P. Shah

  8. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA

    Surendra P. Shah

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Supplementary information

Glossary

ITZ0

The interfacial transition zone (ITZ) between natural aggregate (NA) and the new mortar in natural aggregate concrete (NAC).

ITZ1

The interfacial transition zone (ITZ) between original aggregate and the old mortar in recycled aggregate (RA).

ITZ2

The interfacial transition zone (ITZ) between original aggregate and the new mortar in recycled aggregate concrete (RAC).

ITZ3

The interfacial transition zone (ITZ) between the old mortar and the new mortar in recycled aggregate concrete (RAC).

Plastic viscosity

The resistance of fresh concrete to flow, representing the internal friction between its particles that governs the deformation rate under shear stress.

Pull-out failure

A bond failure mechanism in which a reinforcing bar is physically pulled out from the surrounding concrete without yielding the steel.

RA replacement ratio

The percentage of natural aggregate (NA) in a concrete mix that is replaced by recycled aggregate (RA), typically by mass or volume.

Rebar fracture failure

A ductile failure mode in which the reinforcing bar itself yields and fractures, indicating that the concrete’s bond and confinement capacity have been fully utilized.

Slump

An indicator to quantify the consistency and workability of fresh concrete. The higher the slump value, the better the workability of concrete.

Splitting failure

A brittle concrete failure mode characterized by the cracking and splitting of the concrete cover parallel to the bar, caused by high radial stresses from bond action.

Splitting–pull-out failure

A combined failure mode in which a reinforcing bar begins to pull out, simultaneously inducing splitting cracks in the concrete cover before a pure pull-out can be fully realized.

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Xiao, J., Yu, C., Wang, B. et al. Recycled aggregate concrete design, application and challenges. Nat. Rev. Clean Technol. 2, 67–83 (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s44359-025-00125-2

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