UpCycling mIneral and timbeR-based waste from Construction & manUfacturing process industries through eco-design, advanced logistics, quality control and digital solutions

Construction and demolition waste (C&DW) accounts for more than 30% of all waste generated in the EU, reaching approximately 450-500 million tonnes annually: in terms of volume, it is the largest waste stream in the EU across all industrial sectors. Timber material generates a tremendous amount of waste annually from building element manufacturing, construction, demolition, and renovation, while only part of it is currently being recovered, with high variability per country.

Objective

CIRCULess aims to realize a radical breakthrough in circular value chains by eliminating construction (incl. renovation), demolition and manufacturing waste with a focus on mineral (i.e. concrete) and timber-based material streams, reducing flow to landfills and incineration to near zero, by equipping the authorities, stakeholders and experts with a comprehensive and practical end-of-life and waste valorisation system, including methods, techniques, measures and digital tools from production (design for circularity) to sorting, processing, recycling, upcycling and reuse/repurposing, based on an inter-connected “digital waste management platform” offering market-driven environmentally friendly solutions and sustainable-by-design advanced products.

Project specific objectives are:

1. Construction value chain and materials modelling, developing a digital representation of the sector for construction products design and optimization strategies to improve the sustainability of the value chain.

2. Define eco-circular design and waste reduction approaches for the construction industry, including developing separation, sorting and digital inspection systems for quality control, developing circular by design logistic process and construction design solutions and designing recyclable by design (eco-design) new construction materials, facilitating circularity.

3. Foster upcycling of C&DMW through a digital waste management platform for efficient circularity.

4. Create digital tools to support eco-design, sorting, recycling, processing, developing a unique product passport system and decreasing sorting complexity and costing.

5. Demonstrate technical, ecological and economic performances of secondary raw materials prototypes, using the CIRCLess platform for decision making, remote control, intelligence building.

6. Contribute to certification, scale up, uptake and business case of recycled products for the construction industry, defining reskilling and upskilling package for construction sector, recommendations for standardization and for policy makers on CDMW material upcycling.