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Waste Management 23 (2003) 749761 www.elsevier.

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Building waste management in Bulgaria: challenges and opportunities


R. Hadjieva-Zaharievaa, E. Dimitrovab, Francois Buyle-Bodinc,*
a

Building Materials and Insulation Department, The University of Architecture, Civil Engineering and Geodesy of Soa, Blvd Christo Smirnenski 1, 1046 Soa, Bulgaria b Urban Planning Department, The University of Architecture, Civil Engineering and Geodesy of Soa, Blvd Christo Smirnenski 1, 1046 Soa, Bulgaria c LML, The University of Science and Technology of Lille, Department of Civil Engineering, Cite Scientique, 59655 Villeneuve dAscq Cedex, France Accepted 25 February 2003

Abstract Building waste recycling as aggregates is a modern approach for preventing environmental pollution through both reducing the stocks of waste and decreasing the use of natural aggregates. The reuse of building waste is a relatively new issue for Bulgaria despite the existing considerable quantity of building waste and the signicant changes in the environmental rules applied. The paper discusses generated and potential waste streams in Bulgaria in the context of the social and economic restructuring and recent urban development undergone by the country. The main preliminary conditions for developing the recycling activity such as: streams of building waste, experience in recycling, technical and environmental standardization, appropriate technologies, etc. are examined. The authors analyze current practice and research activities with regard to the implementation of advanced EU buildingwaste recycling methods. Conclusions are drawn about existing opportunities and the priorities of the needed building waste management strategy in the country. # 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction Building industry unavoidably exerts pressure over the natural environment as it consumes large quantities of materials and produces an abundant waste stream by both construction and demolition. The growing importance of the sustainability concept in an age that have started with half the world population living in urban areas has caused important changes in the attitude to natural resource consumption in urban development. Nowadays the use-and-throw-away mentality of the near past is steadily making place for a world-wide recycling notion. Recycling, together with the introduction and implementation of environment-friendly or cleaner technologies, is increasingly pointed out among the greatest technological challenges of our time (Lauritzen, 1993).
* Corresponding author. Tel.: +33-3-2043-4610; fax: +33-3-28767331. E-mail address: francois.buyle-bodin@univ-lille1.fr (F. Buyle-Bodin). 0956-053X/03/$ - see front matter # 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/S0956-053X(03)00037-0

Two kinds of materials are to be distinguished within the building waste (BW) streamthose for re-use and others destined for abandonment. As the largest part of BW is coming from concrete (i.e. being of inorganic and non-toxic nature) it is reasonable to recycle and reuse it. An inappropriate management of this waste ow would result in loss of valuable prime materials (natural resources) and in premature lling of the available landll volumes. In most EU countries a qualied recycling process has been developed during the recent decades which starts with planning a construction or demolition project, and ends with quality control on reprocessed materials returned to the construction material market. To recycle concrete waste as aggregates (called Recycled Aggregates, RA) is nowadays considered a modern approach aimed at preventing the environment from pollution through both reducing the stocks of waste and decreasing the use of natural aggregates. During the past 15 years BW recycling has been intensively developing in a lot of West European countries, USA and Japan as a protable industrial

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activity. There is a great number of BW recycling plants reported in Europe at present220 in Germany, 120 in Great Britain, 80 in France, 70 in the Netherlands, 65 in Belgium, 20 in Denmark, etc. (Hansen, 1992; Lauritzen, 1993; Kasai, 1994; De Pauw, 1994; Hendriks and Pietersen, 2000). National and European regulations strongly stimulate this activity. For example, according to French Law on Waste Elimination and Materials Recovery (13 July 1992), depositing recyclable waste in dump sites is forbidden since 2002 (Buyle-Bodin, 1993). The situation in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe is quite dierent. Due to on-going intensive programs for modernization and reconstruction of roads, bridges, municipal and industrial structures started in 1990s, a large amount of BW has been generated. Yet, recycling activity is nowadays still at a starting point (Dimitrova and Zaharieva, 2001). Economic constraints, lack of technical specication for recycled materials and considerable conservatism within the construction industry itself, constitute serious barriers to both recycling activity and RA application (Zaharieva et al., 2000, Dimitrova and Zaharieva, 2001) At the same time newcomer countries in the eld of BW recycling, and Bulgaria as well, face many of the diculties of the experienced ones (for example, insufcient information on waste generators, proong of data, co-ordination of dierent partners involved in the waste management process, etc.) As construction and demolition waste streams are generally dicult to quantify, in all countries the total waste quantities reported are usually a mixture of measured and estimated data. The new laws implementation is particularly hampered by diculties in communication with local authorities, waste management companies and policy-makers (Naidenov et al., 1999, Dimitrova and Hadjieva-Zaharieva, 2002). Discussing the issues of waste management in Bulgaria is hereafter regarded as an opportunity to outline the challenges and chances for applying advanced EU principles and practice under the peculiar legislative, social and economic conditions in the country. It could also provide the basis for further development of useful ideas on future international co-operation and knowledge transfer.

Bulgaria entered the period of its modern development in 1878 after the liberation from the Ottoman Empire. It faced World War II as a predominantly agricultural country. In 1939 the rural population comprised about 80% of the total population and it was still about 75% in 1946 (NSI, 2002a). The emphasis of economic development put onto heavy industry under centrally planned socialism (19481989) resulted in the rapid industrialization and considerable inner migration ows towards large industrial centers. It also brought about considerable changes in the life-style of several generations, in the settlement network and in the settlement structures themselves. The dynamics of the process was greatest in the 1960s and 1970s when the number of towns increased twice and the number of their inhabitantsalmost 3.5 times (NSI, 2002a). This resulted in quick and extensive growth of the urban areas and in the rapid construction of large housing estates of prefabricated elements in the outskirts of cities and large towns to shelter newcomers. According to ocial statistics Bulgaria is one of the countries with the highest dynamics of urbanization in Europe in the period 1950 1990 (EEA, 1999). The complex political, social and economic crisis undergone by the country since 1989 and the new opportunities for free travelling have caused an emigration ow of almost 1 million in westward direction. It has resulted in a stable decrease of population in many parts of the country but the process of urbanization is still going on (Fig. 1). According the latest census in March 2001 the population of Bulgaria is reported to be almost 8 million, 69% of them living in urban areas. Highly urbanized territories comprise about 20% of the territory of the country. There are nine towns with a population over 100,000 out of a total number of 240. The capital city of Soa with a population of 1,122,000 inhabitants is followed by eight others: Plovdiv (345,000), Varna (269,000), Bourgas (195,000), Rousse (166,000), Stara Zagora (148,000), Pleven (121,000), Sliven (105,000) and

2. General national framework 2.1. Social, economic and spatial processes The Republic of Bulgaria covers an area of about 111,000 km2 and is situated in the eastern part of the Balkan Peninsula. It neighbors Romania to the north; the Black Sea to the east; Turkey and Greece to the south; Yugoslavia and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia to the west (NSI, 2002d).

Fig. 1. Dynamics in the number of population and the share of urban population in the period 18872001 (NSI, 2002a).

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Fig. 2. Administrative division of Bulgaria since 1999 (NSI, 2002d).

Dobrich (100,000). The average population density in the country is 74.2 inhabitants per km2 (NSI, 2002d). The regions with highest degree of urbanization are located around the cities of Soa, Plovdiv and Varna. Since 1999 the country is administratively divided into 28 regions and 262 municipalities (Presidents Decree, 4 January) (Fig. 2). The general tendency towards decentralization and democratization of public life in the post-socialist period is the reason for shifting a lot of new responsibilities from the national to the regional and local levels. Thereafter the need for building adequate potential at these levels is considered to be a most pressing one. 2.2. The construction process The transition period 19892002 caused series of interrelated structural transformations in Bulgarian society. The privatization of production funds, the restitution of land ownership and the restructuring of the main branches of economy brought about deepening social stratication, new public partnerships and profound changes in both public and private urban space (Dimitrova and Hadjieva-Zaharieva, 2002). 2.2.1. Existing stock and present state of residential, industrial and public buildings There are about 3.5 million dwellings registered in Bulgaria, the prevailing share of which is erected in the period 19461960 (27.2%), followed by the group of those erected in the next two periods (18.8% in 1961 1970, and 14.8% in 19711980). The percentage of new

dwellings built in the years after the political changes in 1989 is only 5.5% (Fig. 3) (NSI, 2002c,d). The dwellings built up to 1960 were predominantly monolithic low-rise ones (24 oors). High-rise buildings (67 oors) were rather an exception and were located mainly in larger cities. Mass industrialization of the residential sector started in 19651975 when pre-cast panels became a priority of housing policy (Fig. 4). Thirty large plants for the production of pre-fabricated panels were built in the large regional centers of the country (three of them in Soa). As a result of this up to 1997 about 120 housing estates of prefabricated panels were erected, with a total number of 11,000 blocks of ats and about 740,000 apartments. Most of these buildings and their installations are estimated to be considerably worn out and outdated with respect to present living standard requirements. Experts consider the need for sanation quite urgent (Romanov, 2002).

Fig. 3. Existing dwellings in Bulgaria by year of construction.

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than the previous year. Nevertheless the relative share of accomplished construction and mounting activities in the private sector reaches 88.4% and it increases by 3.6 points in comparison with 2000. The growing role of the private sector could be expected to inuence the means for ecient quality control on construction as well as the way of formulating the national, regional and local strategies for building waste recycling (NSI, 2002c). 2.3. Transport infrastructure construction The total length of the national road network in 2002 is 37,288 km and the average density is 0.33 km2. Approximately 90% of the roads are with asphalt. There are 324 km motorways, 3000 km rst-grade roads, 3800 km second-grade roads, 29,900 km thirdand fourth-grade roads. Two-lane roads with overall width between 6.00 and 7.50 m are most common. Approximately 2500 km of the rst grade roads are part of the European road network. The following international roads cross the territory of the country: E80, E79, E83, E871, E772, E70, E85, E87, E773. A considerable part of the existing road network badly needs rehabilitation, modernization and new development. The construction of new and the reconstruction of existing transport facilities is among the most dynamically developing sectors in Bulgaria. The national policy aimed at joining European and Euro-Atlantic political structures would require the development of a modern national transport system adequate to the European one. Moreover, the strategic location of the country in the Balkans presupposes that ve trans-European transport corridors (No. IV, VII, VIII, IX and X Branch C), pass the country. The National Programme of Transport Sector Development also includes the construction and development of Soa National Airport and the restructuring, rehabilitation and modernization of the rail transport network. The Ministry of Transport and Communications has elaborated an Investment Programme for Development

Fig. 4. Panel assembled building.

In the longer term their demolition and gradual replacement by brand new ones will be one of the greatest challenges to local and national authorities (Dimitrova and Hadjieva-Zaharieva, 2002). The same process could be expected concerning a number of outdated, unnished or abandoned public and industrial structures (Fig. 5a). A large number of prefabricated reinforced concrete units have stayed unnished and simply abandoned for more than 10 years now (Fig. 5b). A tendency to decrease the output volume of construction is observed in the period 19952001. The decrease is even greater in 1997 and 1998about 18% with reference to 1995. According to preliminary data in 2001 the decrease of construction, mounting and realized building services is 6.5%, compared with 2000, and 10.0%, regarding 1995. During the same period the relative share of the construction activity of the private sector is higher than that of the public one. In the rst 3 years it has reached 5657% of the total amount of realized receipts in construction. In 2001, the private construction companies realized receipts by 2.1% less

Fig. 5. Unnished and abandoned buildings: (a) industrial building near Soa; (b) public building near the town of Vidin.

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of the Transport Infrastructure of the country. It comprises 36 national investment transport projects, 25 of which are included in the Middle-term National Investment Programme of the Government. The investments, necessary till 2015 are of a total amount of US$ 4,890,85 million. The projects are in the eld of railway, combined, road, maritime (sea and inland waterways) and air transport and are situated along the ve PanEuropean Transport Corridors, which pass through the territory of Bulgaria. The funding for these will include investments by the state budget and other nancial sources such as: taxes on liquid fuels, credits by the international nancial institutions, publicprivate and private concessions, etc. (Bulgaria-Country Prole, 2001). Envisaged new construction activities would require huge amounts of building materials and aggregates (crushed stone, gravel stone and sand) in particular. The experience of developed countries proves that natural aggregates could be partially substituted in this eld by recycled ones (Hansen, 1992; Kasai, 1994; De Pauw, 1994; Hendriks and Pietersen, 2000). Large quantities of BW are expected as a result of railway and road network reconstruction. Transportation and landlling of that waste could have a serious negative eect on the environment. BW recycling would be an opportunity to eectively solve these problems.

for a directive on Landll of waste (COM/97/105), etc. (MOEW, 2001). Until 1999 a number of consecutive cabinets in Bulgaria with dierent political orientation, have tried to nd ways of sustaining development (MOEW, 1999a). A new National Strategy for the Environment (NSE) and Action Plan for the period 20002006 have been elaborated. The outlined main objectives related to waste management are:  prevention and reduction of waste generation;  environmentally sound waste disposal; and  re-use and recycling of waste materials (increased amount of recycled waste by 20% in 2005 and by 30% in 2010; increased number of waste types collected for recycling and re-use, construction of new facilities for waste recycling (MOEW, 1999b). However they are generally slowly and often ineectively put into practice despite the stable growth of reported expenditures on acquisition of assets designed for the environment and those on maintenance and exploitation grow considerably in recent years (Fig. 6). The expenditures on waste management in 2000 were 22% of the total expenditures on environmental protection and rehabilitation. A more detailed review of statistical data reveals that only 0.5% have been spent on building waste (Fig. 7) (NSI, 2002b). Being non-toxic and relatively harmless from environmental point of view. BW materials are considered less problematic than other waste and the issue of their treatment is often underestimated. In all the reports and regulations reviewed BW is mentioned jointly with municipal waste and the majority of measures envisaged are aimed at the improvement of municipal waste management. The existing nancial conditions in for waste management in the country could be hardly estimated as ecient in order to stimulate the development of building waste

3. BW management in the countrycurrent state 3.1. Environmental policy and legislation The frame for the modern environmental legislation in Bulgaria has been set with the adoption of the Environmental Protection Act in 1991. The act revised the system of environmental standards and introduced the polluter pays principle, the right of the public to be informed and the prevention principle. In recent years a large number of legal documents were adopted to regulate the relations between dierent sectors dealing with the environment. The changes in legislation were aimed at both reecting the new socio-economic conditions in the country and transposing EU environmental laws in Bulgarian legislation in the EU accession process. The administrative levels responsible for the implementation of environmental policy comprise the Ministry of Environment and Water (MOEW), its regional bodies (15 Regional inspectorates, four basin Divisions, Directorates of National Parks) and 262 municipalities. The national legislative basis for waste management in force comprises the Act on Limitation of the Harmful Impact of Waste on the Environment, passed in 1997 with the respective regulations. There are eight regulations in force, in compliance with the EU directives, i.e. 75/442/EEC on waste and Decision 94/3/EC; Proposal

Fig. 6. Expenditures on environmental protection and rehabilitation.

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Ministry of Environment and Waters and disseminating environmental information. It is a structure carrying out management of the National Automatic System for Environmental Monitoring and a National Reference Center for the European Environment Agency (EIONET-EEA-Bulgaria, 2002a,b). The comparison between the two sets of data is quite disturbing as they dier signicantly. According to NSI building waste comprises waste obtained on building sites or as result of demolition or reconstruction of buildings and facilities, including road construction (NSI, 2002a). BW is however incorrectly regarded there as a part of industrial waste as in the Act on Limitation of the Harmful Impact of Waste on the Environment is separately classied under No. 17.00.00 (MOEW, 2001). Data are gathered by municipal administrations being in charge for their management and concern municipal landlls and specialized BW landlls. The accuracy problem emerges from the fact that the exact weighing of landlled waste quantities is only possible in certain landlls. That is why the general practice is to estimate BW quantities on the basis of transportation reports. In some of the landlls quantities are dened by the degree of lling up the available volume. For example, in NSI Bulletin on the Environment in 2000, 329,070 m3 of BW are reported in specialized BW landlls (NSI, 2002c). The data of EEA probably reect real BW quantities more precisely. In 1997, a nation-wide database (DB) of municipal solid and construction waste was created in EEA. In the same year, a software product was elaborated and introduced for information processing. Since 1995, in some Regional Inspectorates of Environment and Waters (RIEW) local DBs have been functioning with software products to operate the DB on a regional level. The monitoring of municipal solid waste and BW waste within MOEW system covers the residential areas where the main part of the population is concentrated. According to MOEW experts, an improvement is observed in the quality of the reported information on municipal solid waste and construction waste for the period 19971999, due to the following reasons:  the application software for information processing requires correct data;  the municipal administrations consider more seriously their responsibilities for the preparation of reports and information documents on waste management activities; and  RIEW apply more stringent control, in accordance with waste standards and regulations applicable in the country (EIONET-EEA-Bulgaria, 2002a).

Fig. 7. Share of expenditures on detoxication and utilization of waste resulted from dierent economic activities.

recycling activities. It still remains economically more ecient to produce natural aggregates and to deposit or abandon building waste than to invest in building-waste recycling. The charges for natural aggregates production, for building waste landlling and for improper waste storage although increased recently, are not to be considered an eective instrument to stimulate recycling yet (Naidenov et al., 1999, Dimitrova and Zaharieva, 2001). The MOEW budget for 2003 is 173.7 million BGL (about E82 million). It has been increased 93.2% compared with the current year. There are two priorities stated in the eld of environmental protectionwater and waste management (MOEW, 2002). 3.2. BW streams and quantities The data on BW quantities generated in recent years on the national level (Table 1) are provided by two sources: 1. The Environment 2000 Bulletin and the Statistical Yearbook of the Republic of Bulgaria, editions 67, 68 and 69 of the National Statistical Institute (NSI, 2002b,d). 2. Annual Bulletin 1999 and 2000 of the Executive Environment Agency (EEA), EEA is the Bulgarian specialized agency performing monitoring, analytical and laboratory activities for the
Table 1 Reported quantities of building waste in Bulgaria Year Building waste, kt Data source NSI 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 546 485 370 410 No data 484 Data source EEA No data No data 1140 1043 1343 746

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Statistical data of EEA shows that in 19972000 the average annual amount of generated BW waste per capita was 100170 kg. Compared to the data for the EU countries (200450 kg/per year/per capita of building waste (EEA, 1999), the problem of BW management in Bulgaria could be underestimated. The expert assessment of the total building waste amount for 2000 is signicantly higher. It is not possible to outline a clearly expressed tendency of BW decrease or increase based on statistical data. Although the information collected after 1998 is of higher quality, compared to previous years, a great part of BW is not taken into consideration. For example, the reported quantities of construction waste in 2000 are 44% less than those for 1999 (EIONET-EEA-Bulgaria, 2002b). The possible reasons for that considerable difference may on the one hand be due to information gapsless municipalities have submitted data of construction waste during the period under review, and on the other handomissions related to landll exploitationin many cases the municipal administrations report jointly construction waste, earth masses and inert waste, and no quantitative evaluation is possible for the collected construction waste. In addition, the lack of eective application of the environmental laws causes an increase of y-tipping (Fig. 8). As a nal result the exact quantity of building waste cannot be dened.

Eective BW management should also take into consideration territorial non-uniformity of the processes. Average national data usually provide only general information as in highly industrialized regions a lot of buildings are demolished or reconstructed, thus the BW quantities produced are considerably above the average ones for the country. In reality 83% of the construction waste in the country is generated in the cities with population over 30,000 (EIONET-EEA-Bulgaria, 2002b). A typical example is provided by the data reported by RIEW in the region of Pazardjik where in 1999 the quantity of BW is 2968 kg per capita as a result of the demolition of the large copper-processing AssarelMedet Complex. The average quantity in the country for the same period is 170 kg per capita. At the same time the quantities reported by RIEW in the region of Montana (in the northwestern part of the country) are only 14 kg per capita. The so-called hidden waste, consisitng mainly of produced but rejected and not used prefabricated concrete units (panels), remains unreported as well. An enormous quantity of such materials is stored in the warehouses throughout the country (Fig. 9). For example, the municipal company Domostroene (Homebuilding), in Soa which is a successor of six former building companies, owns more than 150,000 tons of rejected panels (Naidenov et al., 1999). Finding a solution

Fig. 8. Fly-tipping BW in the vicinities of Soa.

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Fig. 9. Unused pre-cast panels stored in the warehouse near the town of Smolian.

to the problem of abandoned unused pre-cast building panels should be considered one of the greatest opportunities of the nearest future. On one hand, being homogeneous, with almost no impurities and made of high-quality concrete, they are BW of an exceptionally high recycling potential and the RA produced would have a wide eld of application. On the other hand, up to 1989 each of the 30 regional centers in the country has had a panel production plant. At present neither of them is working as such. They have been privatized and transformed into construction companies. The new owners would gladly discharge their warehouses from the panels stored and they also need aggregates for new construction activity. Hidden BW also comprise those obtained by rejection of low-quality production in plants producing small-size building elements (ceramic bricks, blocks and tiles, concrete masonry units and pavement elements, etc.). Due to the outdated technologies applied, the share of rejected elements is too high. The view of enormous waste heaps of such elements around the plants is quite a usual view (Fig. 10). As mentioned in Section 2.2. the exploitation period of prefabricated housing estates from 1960s and 1970s is

coming to an end and the need for their gradual substitution with modern ones would suppose the appearance of enormous BW quantities in future decades due to the considerable construction volume of that kind in Bulgaria. Abandoned and unnished industrial and public buildings in the countryside, up in the mountains or in the cities and towns, which have been submitted to destruction for the recent decade and could be no more reinforced and restored should be considered another potential source of BW. The favorable aspect of these waste sources is related to the fact that the demolition methods applied could be simplied and the RA obtained would be of relatively good quality as usually the reinforced-concrete skeleton alone has left out of the buildings. 3.3. The practice of land lling Up to the present moment the only way of BW treatment in Bulgaria, as in most of the transition countries, is landlling. In DB, data on waste landll locations, their areas, quantities of collected waste, settlement serviced and their population, etc. are stored.

Fig. 10. Heaps of rejected ceramic bricks by the plant in Dragovishtitsa.

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Fig. 11. Shares of the landlls areas and old polluted sites (by area).

The National Environment Monitoring System maintains a Register of Landlls and Old Polluted Sites (RLOPS). In the RLOPS, all municipal solid waste landlls are entered, each with its unique number, for all towns, some villagesmunicipal centers, village landlls servicing several settlements and the known devoted construction waste landlls. In 2000, 284 landlls and old polluted sites are reported. They occupy a total area of 832.8 ha of which old polluted sites occupy an area of 167.9 ha. In most cases landlls for BW and earth masses are abandoned quarries, bogged areas, eroded embankment and other negative landscape forms, and occupy a total area of 113 ha (Fig. 11) (EIONET-EEABulgaria, 2002b).

In recent years it has become more dicult to open new landlls as tighter environmental controls have been introduced. With the purpose of land reclamation, apart of construction waste, also earth masses from earth excavation works and inert industrial waste are disposed on BW landlls. For example, on the BW landll of Padina, Avren municipality, construction wastes from the enterprises of Devnia industrial complex (near Varna) are deposited70.161 tons. The rest of the construction waste292.223 tonsare disposed on municipal solid-waste landlls (EIONET-EEA-Bulgaria, 2002a). The set of BW landlls is not well developed. That is why, in 1999, only 78% of reported quantity of BW is deposited in 36 specialized landlls for construction waste and earth masses, the rest quantities are landlled together with municipal waste. (Fig. 12) (EIONET*EEA-Bulgaria, 2002b). This should be estimated as inecient for two reasons. Firstly, municipal landlls require higher investments than BW ones because of the higher environmental risks. Secondly, usually landlled without preliminary crushing, BW need comparatively large space. The situation is particularly problematic around some of the largest cities of the country (Soa, Russe, Pleven) as they generate huge BW quantities but there are no specialized landlls. Even in the new Development Plan of Soa where the Environmental Impact Assessment is strongly focused upon, building waste issues are not considered explicitly. The control over landlling is not sucient either: according to the data submitted by the Regional

Fig. 12. Percentage of building waste deposited in specialized BW landlls and in municipal waste landlls in 1999.

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Environment and Water Centers, 95% of the BW landlls are practically not controlled, so there is no reliable data concerning the stream composition (EIONET-EEA-Bulgaria, 2002a). There are some cases, although quite rare, of building waste applied in operating municipal waste landlls. Some types of BW, e.g. those of the construction material production, are used in road construction and in soil re-cultivation (EIONET-EEA-Bulgaria, 2002a). In NSE recycling waste plants have been suggested as an alternative to landlls (MOEW, 1999b), but they are still expensive to construct and costly to run. Particularly in cases of BW already mixed with other kinds of waste, recycling is either very costly activity or impossible. That is why current research on BW recycling should focus on future BW streams rather than on already landlled BW.

4. Recycling as an alternative approach 4.1. Technical, technological and economic aspects Recycled building materials are generally directed to two areas of use: secondary construction materials with the same demands on quality as required for primary building materials (i.e. base courses in road construction, concrete aggregates), and recycling groups with lower requirements (i.e. structure back-lling, parking spaces, etc.). The use of coarse RA as partial or total substitution for natural coarse aggregates is becoming usual for ordinary concrete (Hansen, 1992; De Pauw, 1994; Hendriks and Pietersen, 2000). It is also usual to apply industrially recycled aggregates for manufacturing concrete products (Zaharieva et al., 2000; Sagoe-Crentsil et al., 2001; Olorunsogo and Padaychee, 2002). Recently, the need to demolish structures with high performance concrete, (for example, building frames or bridge beams, provided the source of a new generation RA and stimulated the manufacturing of structural recycled high performance concrete (Limbachiya et al., 2000, Ajdukiewicz and Liszczewicz, 2002). The legal rules for denition and utilization of RA dier from country to country. The implementation of RA in road construction is ruled either by specications (in Netherlands and Denmark), or by recommendations (in USA, Germany, Japan and the former USSR) (Hansen, 1992; Kazai, 1994; Hendriks and Pietersen, 2000, Eikelboom et al., 2001) The new EN standard for concrete aggregates (prEN 12620: Aggregates for concrete, July 2000) considers RA as conventional aggregates and denes their use in accordance with their characteristics. Bulgarian legislation regarding the denition and use of concrete aggregates addresses predominantly natural

aggregates. Articial concrete aggregates (RA should be classied in this group) are just mentioned; light-weight aggregates and those for special use (i.e. for heavy concrete, etc.) are particularly a subject of explicit legal regulation. Yet, the lack of legal regulation on articial aggregates should not be considered a serious obstacle to the initiation of RA production. Actually at present all the standardization in the building activity eld is in the process of change, the general trend of the reform being to come closer to European norms (EN). For instance the main part of EN standards are simply translated into Bulgarian and indicated as BSS EN (Bulgarian State Standard). The use of materials for which no corresponding BSS exists could be permitted in accordance with an existing European Standard for such cases. Approaches to recycling technologies dier with regard to BW origin and constitution and concern mainly the methods for removal of impuritiespreliminary grading, magnetic pulling o of metallic waste, and separation of light materials such as wood, paper, plastics, etc. by hand, by otation or by air cyclone. The technologies applied are classied in three groups:  Selective recycling is applied for previously selected homogeneous waste (bricks, concrete). It is suitable for the recycling of large elements of building structures, masonry solids, etc.  Recycling in situ is an approach applied to minimize the cost of transportation, for instance in the road construction. Mobile installations are convenient but they have a limited capacity for removing harmful impurities.  Industrial recycling is performed in specialized recycling plants; the RA produced are of superior quality, due to the application of multiple methods for the removal of impurities; plants are however comparatively expensive and could be ecient in cases of large and stable BW ows. Besides its environmental positive eect, building waste recycling has proved to be also economically reasonable, particularly when the recycling facilities are located nearby large urban areas with intense construction activities and a relative shortage of natural aggregates, when great quantities of building waste are produced and the evacuation of the waste materials is dicult. Mobile plants are almost fourth times cheaper than industrial plants. (Hansen, 1992). It has been estimated that in order to be competitive at the market, RA should be cheaper than the natural ones. Hence, the competitiveness of RA depends on the level of price of natural aggregates as well as on the level of fees paid for depositing the building wastes. The price of natural aggregates in Bulgaria is contiguously increasing as the number of the carriers for their production is decreasing

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due to various considerations: economic (equipment amortization); administrative (problems with land property) and environmental (increasing taxes on production in order to reduce pressure on the environment). Although Bulgaria has considerable resources of natural aggregates, there are several regions, especially in the northeastern part of the country and around the large cities, which face a shortage of concrete aggregates. The aggregates supply in those regions leads to increase in the price of the concrete due to transportation expenditures. Because of the high fuel price and relatively old trucks used in the construction sector, transportation costs can be up to two times higher than the production costs of NA. For example, in the region of Soa the production cost of NA (crushed stone) is 5.22 BGL (about E2.6)/m3, while the transportation costs from Balsha Quarry to Soa (about 36 km) are 6.21 BGL (about E3.1)/m3 (Naidenov et al., 1999). During the process of preparation of a nancial project within the Science for Peace Programme (1997 1998 .), the expenditures for a mobile installation and the equipment of a test laboratory on the territory of a house-building plant in Soa (plot, buildings, trucks, hydraulic cutters, etc.) are estimated to be about E200,000. A total sum of about E430,000 was envisaged for the integral project aimed at the creation af the basis for such an activity in Bulgaria, including the production of a certain RA amount, its characterization and initial experimental application in the process of construction (Naidenov et al., 1999). Deposition taxes in Bulgaria are still comparatively low [about 5.00 BGL(E2.5)/m3] but due to the increasing concern for the environmental protection a tendency of increasing it is expected. Danish experience could be applied about the levy of a landll tax on BW. Partly due to the tax and partly due to the use of other instruments, the rate of recycling of BW increased from less than 20% in 1990 to about 90% in 1999 (Hendriks and Pietersen, 2000). 4.2. Practical experience Notwithstanding that nowadays Bulgaria is just facing the problem of BW reuse, some initial activities in the country are worth mentioning. In 1995, Ingstroy Ltda construction company in Soa, has acquired some experience in crushing, sieving and reusing concrete BW (produced from precast concrete products. More than 200 t of concrete panels were recycled by using a standard crusher in Balsha quarry. The aggregates were reused in low-strength concrete mixes without any special investigation. REC, a Bulgarian Moravian company has built an installation for railway crushed stone recycling, the products obtained were applied in railway construction again. The installation is assembled in the plot of an abandoned industrial

complex about 60 km from Soa. The company has declared an ambition for further development by concrete waste recycling but up to the present day only a limited set of activities in this direction have been undertaken (Naidenov et al., 1999). 4.3. Research activities The scientic problems related to the reuse of concrete BW have been discussed in dierent periods by dierent research institutionsBulgarian Academy of Sciences, Scientic-Research Institute of Construction, etc. In 1996, a research collaboration has been initiated between the Central Laboratory of Physico-Chemical Mechanics (Bulgarian Academy of Sciences) and the Materials and Structures Group (North of France) lead by Professor Buyle-Bodin. The joint research activity is focused on investigating the properties of industrially produced recycled aggregates and the specic features of recycled aggregate concrete. The methodological and technical results could be particularly useful for further research in Bulgaria (Naidenov et al., 1999, Zaharieva et al., 2000, Buyle-Bodin and HadjievaZaharieva, 2002). A pilot project, called Recycled Concrete Aggregates, on producing of RA from rejected panels in Bulgaria, has been prepared for participation in NATO programme Science for Peace (19971998). The key Bulgarian participants were the municipal Domostroene Company in Soa and Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, with the commitment of Ministry of Environment and Water Resources and the Municipality of Soa. The French partners were Universities in northern France, Krupp Hazemag Group and RMN recycling company. The project could not win nancing because of its relatively high value, which exceeded the limits of the NATO program. However, it was highly appreciated by the target groups including legislative institutions, local authorities, developers, construction companies, etc. (Naidenov et al., 1999). A current research project titled Appropriate Application Fields of Recycled BW is partially supported by the Research and Design Center at the University of Architecture, Civil Engineering and Geodesy, Soa (Contract No. BN 4/2001). It is aimed at dening the eld of rational RA application with respect to the principles of sustainable urban development. Taking into consideration the technical feasibility and the normative framework of the process, BW recycling is situated within the wider context of environmental, economic and social regards. The interdisciplinary team consists of urban planners, economists, architects and civil engineers. The research results will be addressed to a broad set of nal users involved in planning and management at the local, regional and national level and also in all the stages of the construction process (Dimitrova and Hadjieva-Zaharieva, 2002)

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5. Conclusions Sustainable urban development needs the consideration of two interconnected objectivesthe possibility to improve the quality of urban life and to decrease the pressure on the environment through rational resource management. Addressing both, building-waste management can be regarded as an eective way towards a more sustainable path of development. The importance of the building waste recycling issue in the countries in transition is dened by the existence of considerable quantities of accumulated waste materials not properly treated and the expected tendencies of increasing the building waste amount. The raising of ecological awareness with the on-going changes in legislation in the pre-accession period aimed at harmonization with EU environmental protection and waste management policy have already created the favorable framework of the process in Bulgaria. Several prospects for the development of an eective building-waste recycling management in Bulgaria can be outlined. In the short-term a favorable opportunity for the beginning of a recycling process is provided by the existence of unused reinforced concrete panels closed to old pre-cast installations and housing scheme because of several advantages:  Simple recycling technologythere is only need of panel crushing and aggregate grading, therefore selective recycling and recycling in situ by a mobile plant can be applied.  High performance of RA: waste is homogenous, primary concrete has satisfactory mechanical characteristics and there are no signicant impurities, so RA can be used for dierent purposes, including concrete manufacturing.  No transport costs: waste disposal, recycling and reuse are executed at the same place. It can be supposed that the price of these RA will be considerably lower than the price of crushed natural stone. In addition, when certain stock of panels is recycled, the mobile plant can be moved to another region. It is a good starting point for a recycling process based on mobile plants, which are up to four times cheaper than the stationary ones and thus an ecient option for SME development. The valorisation of produced RA could start by use in road-construction or in construction of small pre-cast elements. One of the main obstacles to the development the building-waste recycling industrythe lack of capitalcould be overcome by attracting foreign investment. A trans-disciplinary research approach in the eld of BW management could eectively contribute for the

elaboration of long-term regional and municipal development recycling strategies and programs. The processes of demolition and new construction should be interrelated within integral urban policies. An international co-operation in the eld of building waste management could support both processes: the import of European know-how and equipment in the eld of recycling to CEE and the export of expertise on the specic situation in the Balkans region that would facilitate the practical implementation of advanced methods and approaches in waste management. References
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