Rational environmental management is one of the priorities of the technological development of the Russian Federation and most countries of the world. Particularly important in this area is the work undertaken with previously generated and accumulated waste, a whole group of which is gypsum-bearing wastes (GBW), which includes by-products of various industries: phosphogypsum, borogypsum, chlorogypsum, ferrogypsum, citrogypsum, vitamin gypsum, etc. GBW features are similar compositions, prevalence, perennial volumes of stored reserves with stable dynamics of annual growth. This determines the relevance of research on the development of a unified methodology for converting GBW of various types into target products particularly for construction purposes, providing maximum energy efficiency and minimal generation of secondary waste. The starting point of the research is the monitoring of approaches developed by the scientific community which are presented in the article. It is shown that researchers are exploring several main areas of GBW conversion: components of Portland cement and clinker; single and multicomponent binders; direct raw materials for the production of building materials; and road construction. The latter two directions have the greatest potential capacity for the consumption of GBW. The general level of research on the issue is not exhaustive, but has the potential to improve on existing methods of processing and application and promote the search for new and more efficient methods.