The major cost of construction is incurred on building materials and most of these building materials are cement products. The ever increasing price of cement coupled with the rise in the price of other construction materials make the construction cost far from the reach of the low and the middle income group of urban dwellers.

Gypsum is widely used in the construction sector, and its worldwide consumption has been increasing for several decades. Depending on the lifetime of the used gypsum products, an increase of gypsum in construction and demolition waste follows. Especially against the background of a circular economy, the recycling of waste gypsum is of growing importance. However, the use of recycled gypsum only makes sense if it is environmentally friendly.

From the Global Energy Monitor, The Global Steel Plant Tracker (GSPT) provides information on global crude iron and steel production plants, and includes every plant currently operating with a capacity of five hundred thousand tonnes per year (ttpa) or more of crude iron or steel. The GSPT also includes all plants meeting the five hundred ttpa threshold that have been proposed since 2017 or retired or mothballed since 2020.