The need to establish material cycles in the building industry is undisputed. Knowledge on this topic is available in many places: In this book it is summarised and systematized. After a general overview of the quantities generated, recovery rates and areas of application of recycled building materials, the current processing steps on which recycling is based and the possibilities for influencing the product properties are discussed. Furthermore, recycling building materials are characterized and their fields of application are presented. The starting point is always the original building material, which is later found in the construction waste. The focus is on the structural properties. The environmental aspects, which have determined the discussion for years, are shown to the necessary extent. The book concludes with a chapter that presents new developments in processing technologies and analyses the potential of construction waste as a source of raw materials.

Prof. Dr.-Ing. habil. Anette Müller from 1995 to 2011 held the Chair of Preparation ofBuilding Materials and Recycling at the Bauhaus University Weimar. Since April2011 she is an employee of IAB - Institut für Angewandte Bauforschung Weimar gGmbH with a focus on building material recycling. Dr. Isabel Martins, Researcher at Materials Department of Laboratório Nacional de EngenhariaCivil, since 2003 devote her time to study building materials recovery and its further use towards improving resource efficiency in the construction sector.