Sustainable Recycling and Repurposing of Geo-Waste to Adapt Future Cities

Submit your abstract here by 30 June 2026

Introduction

This special issue aims to bridge geotechnical engineering and environmental sustainability by exploring innovative strategies for recycling and repurposing geo-waste (defined as mineral-dominated solid waste or byproducts that exhibit geotechnical behaviours and potential environmental risk, e.g., contaminated soils, sludge, slag) into multifunctional and nature-inclusive geo-materials that enhance urban climate resilience and adapt to nature-inclusive cities. 

The special issue uniquely integrates geo-waste recycling with future urban redevelopment, addressing both soil environmental remediation and infrastructure resilience. Unlike prior works focusing solely on geo-waste reuse, it emphasises functionalisation (e.g., nanomaterials, biochar) to achieve multiple benefits, e.g., pollutant removal, carbon sequestration, or temperature adaptability, and to realise its high-value reuse in geo-infrastructure redevelopment. The guest editors’ pioneering projects—such as carbon-negative geo-structures funded by Horizon Europe and thermo-active geo-infrastructure funded by the Royal Academy of Engineering—will provide fresh insights, filling gaps in existing literature. By merging geotechnical innovation with circular economy principles, the issue will set a new agenda for sustainable urban redevelopment.

List of topic areas

The issue will cover research focused on the following topics.

• Advancing the recycling and functionalisation of geo-wastes (such as transforming them into new nanomaterials, graphene nanosheets, biochar, or geopolymers) to address current pollution challenges;
• Developing thermo-active, self-healing, or carbon-negative geo-structures by utilising recycled or functionalised geo-waste to adapt to future green and energy-efficient cities;
• Promoting engineering-based and nature-based solutions for the proper application of recycled or functionalised geo-waste in urban environmental redevelopment processes.

Submission Information

Submit your abstract here

Author guidelines must be followed

Submissions are made using River Valley. Registration and access are available at: https://ice-review.rivervalley.io/journal/jenge
 

Once you have registered, navigate to the journal that you wish to submit to. Choose article type "Special Issue" and then the specific name from the drop-down menu on screen.