Sustainable Utilization of Excavated Soil in Construction
Summary
The generation of vast quantities of excavated soil during tunnelling, earthworks and urban development presents significant environmental and logistical challenges. Traditional disposal in landfills not only consumes valuable space but also leads to greenhouse-gas emissions associated with transport and methane from organic content. Sustainable utilisation seeks to transform this by‐product into a valuable resource through processes such as mechanical sorting, stabilisation with alternative binders and incorporation into construction materials. Techniques range from direct reuse as engineered backfill to conversion into recycled aggregate, baked bricks or high-performance grouting materials. Life-cycle thinking and circular-economy principles guide design of treatment chains that balance technical performance, carbon footprint and economic viability. Effective implementation depends on integrated assessment of soil characteristics, adaptive processing plants and regulatory frameworks that incentivise on-site recycling. This multifunctional approach can reduce demand for primary resources, lower overall project emissions and support resilient urban infrastructure worldwide.
Research from Nature Portfolio
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Sustainable Utilization of Excavated Soil in Construction publication trend
The graph below shows the total number of articles in sustainable utilization of excavated soil in construction across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).
Technical terms
Life cycle assessment (LCA): A systematic analysis of environmental impacts across all stages of a product’s or process’s life from raw-material acquisition to end-of-life.
Recycled aggregate: Crushed material derived from processed excavated soil or demolition waste, used as a substitute for natural aggregate in concrete and earthworks.
Circular economy: An economic system aimed at minimising waste and maximising resource reuse, repair and recycling throughout production and consumption cycles.
Backfill: Material placed to refill an excavation or tunnel void, often engineered from recycled excavated soil to provide structural support and reduce landfill disposal.
References
- Rock Material Recycling in Tunnel Engineering. Applied Sciences (2020).
- Unraveling the Global Warming Mitigation Potential from Recycling Subway‐Related Excavated Soil and Rock in China Via Life Cycle Assessment. Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management (2020).
- Evaluation of the Techno-Economic Feasibility for Excavated Soil Recycling in Shenzhen, China. Sustainability (2022).
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