Building circularity through CirCon4Climate

The mission of the project is to contribute to climate change mitigation and security of supply in theconstruction sector by strengthening circular construction in the Czech Republic, Poland, and Slovenia, using best practices from Germany.

The project aims to increase the representation of circular building principles in public procurement, to encourage key players in the construction industry to use secondary materials and, finally, to increase the scale and volume of collection of materials for reuse and recycling, for example through regional material cadastres.

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Problem

In Czechia, Poland, and Slovenia, most of the construction industry’s waste is landfilled instead of recycled. However, within construction up to 70 per cent of demolition waste can be used anew.

The construction industry in these countries is struggling with the implementation of circular principles, the linear concept focused on short-term profit is reflected in the entire life cycle of the building. All participating countries face the same problem that pre-demolition audits are not carried out in most of the cases and most construction and demolition waste is landfilled, backfilled or it is “used as a technical layer” in landfills, which is the easiest way to dispose of this type of waste. Thus, less than 30% of available secondary resources are used or recycled. At the same time, it is known that up to 70% of construction and demolition waste is reusable in the relevant construction activities. Closing the economic loop for construction materials would result in a decrease in GHG generation, as the virgin materials have a much higher carbon footprint.

and Solution

Increasing awareness regarding the circular construction process among regional governments and municipalities as well as key players within the industry.

The project strengthens circular construction in Czechia, Poland, and Slovenia with the help of best practices from Germany. To achieve this objective, the project increases awareness regarding the circular construction process among regional governments and municipalities as well as key players within the industry: policymakers, architects, contractors, investors, and urban planning authorities. In practice, the project team advises investors on how to increase circular building principles in public procurement. Moreover, it provides architects and urban planning authorities with good examples as well as support in designing buildings with recycled materials. Hence, the construction industry is encouraged to use secondary materials – recycled materials that can be used in manufacturing processes – and to increase the volume of the collection of materials for reuse and recycling. The project uses best practices from Germany as guidance within this process. All in all, this contributes to mitigating climate change as well as securing supply within the construction sector.