Construction and Demolition Waste (CDW) is waste from construction and civil engineering activities including excavation, embankments and construction, maintenance and demolition of buildings and roads. This category of waste includes all the various types of building materials, debris stones, soil, concrete, wood, metal and plastic packaging paper, cleaning materials etc.

From the environmental point of view the main problem of CDW is the large volume produced and its irregular deposition. In fact, in most cases, CDW are removed from the site and deposited clandestinely in wastelands, riverbanks and roadsides.. These, abandoned wastes are a factor of disruption of drainage networks, facilitate the spread of vectors harmful to public health, promote the partial interdiction of pathways and the degradation of landscape quality. The costs for such practices remediation eventually fall upon the municipalities compromising resources which are not always measurable for their removal and treatment.

Given the specificity of this type of waste (large volumes involved low intrinsic value and relatively low risks), the geographical constraint appears to be a critical activity issue. In fact, transportation is one of the key items of the cost structure, so that the economic activity depends largely on the location of the Screening and Recovery CDW Unit in relation to its production locations.