Abstract:
Marble and granite industry has grown significantly in the last decades with the privatization trend in the early 1990s, and the flourishing construction industry in Egypt. Accordingly, the amount of mining and processing waste has increased. Stone waste is generally a highly polluting waste due to both its highly alkaline nature, and its manufacturing and processing techniques, which impose a health threat to the surroundings.
Shaq Al-Thu`ban industrial cluster, the largest marble and granite industrial cluster in Egypt is imposing an alarming threat to the surrounding communities, Zahraa El-Maadi, and the ecology of the neighboring Wadi Degla protectorate. This thesis proposes both industrial, through recycling-reuse, and environmental, through a structured Eco-industrial Cluster (EIC), reform for Shaq Al-Thu`ban.
Recycled products are composite marble, with waste content up to 84%, concrete bricks, with waste content up to 40%, and cement, with waste of 5% added to the clinker. The recycled products are tested for chemical, physical, and mechanical properties according to the requirements of the American Standards for Testing materials (ASTM), and/or Europian Standards (EN), and/or the Egyptian Code. The results are assessed according to the specifications of one or all of the above mentioned standards. The test results revealed that the recycled products have chemical, physical and mechanical properties that qualify them for use in the building sector.
The environmental reform proposed encompasses the concepts of industrial ecology, and especially its application â eco-industrial cluster along with the techniques of cleaner production, and the new regulations required to promote industrial ecology for all industrial areas such as a modified version of extended producer responsibility (EPR).
