Sustainability of construction sand: A global review

Sand is the unsung material that has helped shape the Anthropocene. However, not much is known about the global sand system apart from that they are extracted and then fed into the industries that fuel development. By tying together environmental externalities, geopolitics, and material flow analysis indicators to determine the sand industry's place in the sustainability space, this study closes a knowledge vacuum. This research applies the ideas of material flow analysis to assess consumption patterns related to domestic sand extraction and trade. Since sand has a less documented history than cement or polymers, the biggest challenge was the absence of trustworthy and easily available data. Data collection and data verification are made highly challenging by the illegal mining and trading of sand, which prevents the true amounts from being recorded on trade and national statistics websites. The study found that China uses the most amount of recycled aggregates overall and consumes more sand than any of the other nations included in the analysis. European countries demonstrated a remarkable equilibrium in their sand systems by giving equal weight to the use of recycled aggregates and virgin sand. Beyond inflows, consumption, and the contribution of recycled aggregate, very little data was available for in-depth investigation. This study addresses the global absence of data, which is mostly caused by regulatory gaps, a lack of oversight, and a lack of interest from higher-level authorities. These circumstances offer the ideal environment for intricate syndicates and geopolitics. Since there are numerous unknown areas of sand mining's impacts and significant levels of negative environmental externalities, the sand business currently counters all of the sustainable development goals. Achieving long-term sustainability in the future will require acknowledging the significance of protecting sand supplies, enforcing and monitoring stringent rules on sand mining, developing alternatives, and creating public databases.