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This paper refers to the management of the construction and demolition (C&D) waste since, according to the EU Waste Strategy, C&D waste is considered to be one of the priority waste streams and appropriate actions need to be taken with respect to its effective management. Initially, the paper presents the state-of-the-art of the problem of C&D waste, including the amount and composition of C&D waste in EU countries, differences in the characteristics of this waste stream depending on its origin, as well as collection and management practices that are applied. A methodology is described for the estimation of the quantities of the waste stream under examination, since in most cases quantitative primary data is not available. Next, the fundamentals for the development of an integrated scheme for the management of C&D waste are presented and discussed, such as appropriate demolition procedures and location of waste management (off-site waste management, on-site waste management, direct on-site recovery, centralized on-site recovery). Finally, taking into consideration all relevant parameters, alternative systems that could be applied for the management of the C&D waste are suggested.

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In the frame of research that examines the use of task-specific ionic liquids (ILs) for developing green methodologies toward novel bioactive compounds, ethanolamine-derived ILs were synthesized and used as solvents and catalysts in a domino Knoevenagel−Michael reaction. After extended optimization studies regarding the most important reaction parameters such as reaction time, temperature, and molar ratio of reactants, it was ascertained that the reaction between 4-hydroxy-coumarin and various benzaldehydes in the synthesized ILs proceeded smoothly at 40 °C in 3 h, providing the desired biscoumarins in very satisfactory yields (up to 97%) and high purity after simple workup. The task-specific ILs were recycled and reused three times without a noticeable decrease in their catalytic activity. Moreover, the biodegradability potential of the synthesized ILs has been investigated by applying the biological oxygen demand (BOD-5) closed bottle test. The results indicated that organic carbon was biodegraded up to 59% within five days.

This study investigated the generation and management of demolition waste (DW) in Cyprus. A methodology has been developed and applied for the estimation of the quantities of the waste stream under examination, since quantitative primary data were not available. The existing situation relating to the practices applied for the management of DW was investigated and assessed. Furthermore, a multi-criteria analysis method (PROMETHEE II) was developed and applied in order to examine alternative systems that could be implemented for the management of the DW in the country. In particular, nine management systems (scenarios) were examined, evaluated and ranked according to their efficiency using seventeen individual criteria, divided into four groups (social-legislative, environmental, economic and technical). The ranking of the alternative waste management scenarios indicated that the optimum management system for possible implementation in the island included complete selective demolition procedures and transfer of mixed recyclable materials to the recycling centre and non-recyclable material to landfill.