220
M. Migliore et al.
3 Construction Sector’s Demand and Manufacturing
Sectors’ Supply: A Research Proposal
for a Cross-Sectoral Platform
In order to apply to the construction sector the possible actions, related to circular
economy approaches, a research, funded by a “Fratelli Confalonieri Foundation”
fellowship, has been developed starting from 2017. The research, named “Ri-scarto”,
starts from some basic assumptions:
• building products are highly cross-sectoral (according to the Italian ANCE
5 report,
31 of the 36 economic sectors are suppliers of construction sector, that buys goods
and services from more than 88% of the economic sectors);
• by-products and pre-consumer scraps, coming from various manufacturing sectors,
can represent important sources of secondary materials, useful for reducing the
high environmental impacts
6 of the construction sector, due to the intensive use
of raw materials and to the generation of huge amounts of waste (C&D waste)
7 ;
• by-products and pre-consumer scraps, coming from manufacturing sectors, are
easy to be located, characterised, forecasted, quantified, are concentrated in the site
of their production and represent, if well-known, a potential supply for recycling
processes oriented to the production of building products;
• information can play an important role where cross-sectoral platforms can support
and strengthen the dialogue between the construction sector demand for secondary
materials and the manufacturing sectors supply of by-products and pre-consumer
scraps.
On the basis of these assumptions, the research has developed two parts:
• a first part dealing with an investigation of experimental cases of successful matching between the construction sector’s demand for recycled products and the manufacturing sectors’ supply of by-products and pre-consumer scraps recycled for
building products. The output of this part is a database of cases regarding products
and processes, that can be analysed and compared according to various reading
keys in order to share practices and highlight trends;
5 ANCE, The construction industry: structure, sectoral interdependencies and economic growth, in
italian “L’industria delle costruzioni: struttura, interdipendenze settoriali e crescita economica”,
2015.
6 UNEP (United Nations Environment Program Environment for Development) reports, in one of
his study (UNEP-United Nations Environment Program Environment for Development 2018), that
buildings use around 40% of the world’s energy, 25% of global water, 40% of global resources,
and emit about 1/3 of greenhouse gas emissions and are responsible for around 50% by weight of
waste.
7 Every year, the European construction sector produces about 820 million tonnes of C&D waste,
which represents 46% of the total amount of waste generated (Gálvez-Martos et al. 2018). The
typical composition of C&D waste shows that a percentage up to 85% is characterized by concrete,
ceramics and masonry, although it can be heterogeneous depending the specific origin and it can
contain large amounts of plasterboard and wood.
M. Migliore et al.
3 Construction Sector’s Demand and Manufacturing
Sectors’ Supply: A Research Proposal
for a Cross-Sectoral Platform
In order to apply to the construction sector the possible actions, related to circular
economy approaches, a research, funded by a “Fratelli Confalonieri Foundation”
fellowship, has been developed starting from 2017. The research, named “Ri-scarto”,
starts from some basic assumptions:
• building products are highly cross-sectoral (according to the Italian ANCE
5 report,
31 of the 36 economic sectors are suppliers of construction sector, that buys goods
and services from more than 88% of the economic sectors);
• by-products and pre-consumer scraps, coming from various manufacturing sectors,
can represent important sources of secondary materials, useful for reducing the
high environmental impacts
6 of the construction sector, due to the intensive use
of raw materials and to the generation of huge amounts of waste (C&D waste)
7 ;
• by-products and pre-consumer scraps, coming from manufacturing sectors, are
easy to be located, characterised, forecasted, quantified, are concentrated in the site
of their production and represent, if well-known, a potential supply for recycling
processes oriented to the production of building products;
• information can play an important role where cross-sectoral platforms can support
and strengthen the dialogue between the construction sector demand for secondary
materials and the manufacturing sectors supply of by-products and pre-consumer
scraps.
On the basis of these assumptions, the research has developed two parts:
• a first part dealing with an investigation of experimental cases of successful matching between the construction sector’s demand for recycled products and the manufacturing sectors’ supply of by-products and pre-consumer scraps recycled for
building products. The output of this part is a database of cases regarding products
and processes, that can be analysed and compared according to various reading
keys in order to share practices and highlight trends;
5 ANCE, The construction industry: structure, sectoral interdependencies and economic growth, in
italian “L’industria delle costruzioni: struttura, interdipendenze settoriali e crescita economica”,
2015.
6 UNEP (United Nations Environment Program Environment for Development) reports, in one of
his study (UNEP-United Nations Environment Program Environment for Development 2018), that
buildings use around 40% of the world’s energy, 25% of global water, 40% of global resources,
and emit about 1/3 of greenhouse gas emissions and are responsible for around 50% by weight of
waste.
7 Every year, the European construction sector produces about 820 million tonnes of C&D waste,
which represents 46% of the total amount of waste generated (Gálvez-Martos et al. 2018). The
typical composition of C&D waste shows that a percentage up to 85% is characterized by concrete,
ceramics and masonry, although it can be heterogeneous depending the specific origin and it can
contain large amounts of plasterboard and wood.