The construction sector comprises a number of activities that may result in environmental impacts of considerable magnitude, waste generation being one of the major negative effects of this industry due to the large streams generated. Proper knowledge of the environmental problem caused by the sector is of great importance in order to achieve an effective waste management. Thus, this paper analyse the Spanish situation regarding construction and demolition waste (CDW) compared with other European Union countries; which sets out the current figures of the CDW scenario (legislation, generation, composition, treatment and market) as well as the difficulties encountered when handling this residue.
Keywords: CDW; composition; legislation; management; recycling.