The construction of civil engineering structures, such as bridges, highways, roads, airfield runways, and railways, on problematic soils can be extremely precarious. This is due to the low compressive and shear strength and high compressibility of such soils which can lead to the destruction of these structures. Furthermore, increasing rates of urbanization and construction across the globe have led to an increase in cement production each year. Cement production process is highly energy-intensive and for every ton of cement, the same amount of CO2 is released into the atmosphere, which is one of the main factors in global warming. To address this problem, there are two main methods, including the partial replacement of cement with other pozzolanic additives, or the use of alternative binders such as alkali-activated materials and geopolymers.

Despite extensive studies on improving the properties of soils using traditional additives (i.e., cement and lime), researchers are always looking for alternatives to cement. The utilization of alternative materials, in addition to increasing the efficiency of the stabilization/geopolymerization process, reduces the use of cement, which significantly helps to protect the environment. Due to the high amount of CO2 released in the cement production process, decreasing cement consumption can reduce the amount of irreparable damage done to the environment. Therefore, one of the main concerns of researchers is to develop materials with better quality and efficiency in soil treatment than existing stabilizers, ensuring their production causes less consumption of raw materials and energy. This technique is one of the most cost-effective ways to improve the strength, stability, permeability, and durability of problematical soils even under harsh conditions such as wet-dry or freeze-thaw cycles.

This Special Issue aims to provide in-depth insights into the use of industrial wastes in construction and the improvement of problematic soils under buildings, roads, and pavements. We hope to provide an environmentally friendly approach to enhance the mechanical properties of these soils. We welcome both original research and review articles.

Potential topics include but are not limited to the following:

• Evaluating the impact of industrial wastes on strengthening dispersive soils
• Stabilization of expansive soils using steel slags as an eco-friendly approach
• Improvement of a marl soil using eggshell lime
• Incorporation of non-conventional agricultural wastes for soil stabilization
• Sustainable application of wastes in pavements
• Use of industrial waste-based geopolymers as soil stabilizers
• Impact of industrial byproduct-based geopolymers on the mechanical properties of clays
• Effect of by-products on the engineering characteristics of stabilized expansive soils under wet-dry cycles
• Effect of freeze-thaw cycles on the mechanical characteristics of fly ash stabilized soft soils
• Strength properties of dispersive clay stabilization using rice husk ash and slag geopolymers
• Sustainable utilization of industrial by-products as novel stabilized materials of problematic soils
• Using recycled glass powder waste for sustainable geopolymer production
• Mechanical behavior of soft soils stabilized with fly ash-based geopolymer
• Reuse of blast furnace slag to produce a green geopolymer product as a novel material for soil improvement
• Effect of temperature on the stabilization efficiency of expansive soil using industrial wastes