Perspectives on sustainable practicle and materials in the concrete industry of Bangladesh

Abstract

In construction industry where concrete is the main ingredient is experiencing a rapid growth in recent. Many cement manufacturing plants, aggregate production units, ready mix concrete production facilities and other factories related to concrete industry are rapidly increasing. Whole industry is working relentlessly to meet this growing demand. However, little is known about the sustainability of materials, practices and procedures that are followed in this industry. As a step towards understanding the sustainability issues related to the concrete industry of Bangladesh, this paper elaborates the perspectives held by the members and stakeholder in this sector on sustainable practices and materials through investigation consisting of survey of industry experts and other stakeholders. The investigation is aimed at to evaluate the level of sustainability knowledge of different personnel associated with this industry and their concept towards making this industry more sustainable. The different groups of personnel that are interviewed for this purpose include academics; consultants, design and field level engineers; personnel involved in technical issues of cement and ready-mix concrete factories; contractors and owner of construction related industries. Available data through these interviews are then processed to examine its different features. Data shows most of the persons surveyed at least have little knowledge about sustainability of concrete except for the contractors where, majority have no knowledge about sustainability. Overwhelming 80% interviewed believe that concrete industry of Bangladesh needs change to make concrete industry more sustainable. Majority of those who are aware of sustainability issues emphasized on use of alternative ingredients for cement and aggregate production for a more sustainable concrete industry. While a few people emphasized on increasing durability of structures through better concrete and thereby reducing the overall environmental impact from a life cycle point of view. From this research, present scenario related to sustainability in Bangladeshi concrete industry, concrete materials and concrete structures will be evident. This is why the perspective of sustainability in the concrete industry of Bangladesh needs to be studied from the context of factors affecting this country only.