Post-war rubble removal and potential use of recycled construction rubble in gaza governorates

Abstract EN

The last Israeli war on Gaza between December 27, 2008 and January 18, 2009 resulted in extensive destruction of homes, livelihoods and infrastructure facilities that generated a considerable huge amount of mixed concrete and non-concrete rubble.

According to United Nations Development Programmed (UNDP), after this war, nearly 600,000 tons of rubble was generated as a result of Israel’s attack on private houses, public buildings, private sector and various infrastructure facilities in the Strip.

This rubble was located in scattered areas within the five governorates of the Gaza Strip.

The mixture of this rubble has been a big challenge for all actors involved in rubble removal activities.

United Nations Environmental Programmed (UNEP) damage assessment report-2009 indicates that the rubble contains at least 10 % of hazardous material such as Asbestos and Unexploded Ordinances (UXOs) which required a special attention during rubble removal process in order to make it appropriate for producing crushed reusable aggregates.

This paper is a summary of various efforts exerted by different actors and institutions involved in rubble removal activities in the Gaza Strip.

The paper includes actual actions taken towards reusing of crushed concrete rubble in construction industry.

Consequently, the paper will focus on two main topics as follows : a) Post-war rubble circumstances in the Gaza Strip.

This includes methodology used to identify the quantity and quality of the rubble, means and proper actions for rubble removal and experience of different actors in rubble removal activities that lead to proper recycling and production of reusable construction material.

b) Determination of technical / applicability of reusing the recycled rubble.

This part includes test results conducted for crushed concrete rubble that assists to draw a clear picture of the applications of this material in the Gaza Strip.

The characteristics of such aggregates were determined and compared to international standards.

The reuse alternative is investigated in road and concrete constructions throughout all performed tests.