Metal Recycling from Construction and Demolition Waste (CDW)

All construction companies now promote 'sustainable materials management' where they recycle and reuse certain CDW. This is mainly done to reduce the overall construction cost and the total aggregate demand for new building materials for a construction project.


CDW can be mainly divided into two categories: metals and non-metals. Wood, concrete, asphalt, bricks, glass, and plastics come under the non-metals category. On the other hand, ferrous and non-ferrous materials come under the metal category.


Around 95% of the total recovered metal from any construction project is actually steel. Besides, around 1-2% aluminum (mainly from doors and windows), 1-2% copper (mainly from piping and wires), and around 1% stainless steel (from structural supports) can be also recovered from Construction and Demolition (C&D) projects.

(Source: https://www.environment.gov.au/system/files/resources/b0ac5ce4-4253-4d2b-b001-0becf84b52b8/files/case-studies.pdf)


Steel is the easiest metal product to recycle from any C&D site as it can be segregated with minimal effort. And steel products actually produce almost zero waste. Besides, some surplus steel products such as tubes, rebars, pipes, claddings, and internal structural supports can be  reused with  little or  no reprocessing.



Recycling of steel products also has an environmental advantage, since there are  few environmental impacts due to minimal reprocessing. A majority of the steel products recovered from C&D projects can be sandblasted to remove coatings and base painting layers. Then, primer can be applied to use it for a new project. However, engineers do need to inspect and approve their properties and strengths before using it.



Other non ferrous metals, such as copper and aluminum, can be  melted to remove any impurities. They can finally be molded into new products to use in new construction sites.

UAE Should Recycle More Aluminium

Recycling is gaining pace and is a healthy trend followed in many parts of the globe. UAE is not far behind.  However, UAE needs to recycle more often, and there are many companies like the Lucky Group which is experts in recycling.

 The simplest metal to recycle is Aluminium. This metal is abundantly found and is easier to gather. Soda cans, tins, foils, window panes, hinges, there are many aluminium products that need to be recycled on a large scale. Aluminium recycling needs to gain trend in UAE for a number of reasons. Well, most importantly, aluminium is a metal that can be recycled 100%. It can be recycled innumerable times and the metal does not lose out on its original qualities. Aluminium is also the most copiously and abundantly used in our everyday lives. Extracting the raw material every time, requires a lot of efforts and energy. The money and labour cost spent on these can be saved, and the same efforts can be utilized in a better fashion.

UAE will benefit a lot overall when aluminium is recycled on a large scale. The space in the landfills can be utilized to deposit other wastes. What’s more? These practices generate a lot of employment opportunities. Recycling centers, factories, need a lot of skilled personnel and professionals and thus, a lot of employment options are open in great numbers. Recycling also benefits the Alloy manufacturing companies hugely as the recycled metal can be put into use to produce raw materials, without needing fresh raw materials.

Well, for any nation, recycling is of utmost importance as there are a number of benefits to this practice that will help the nation in an overall growth.