304
C. Talamo et al.
in 2014 in the EU-28 (Eurostat 2016). Moreover, the construction sector gives a
lot of opportunities in job creation (currently, it provides 18 million direct jobs),
contributing to about the 9% of the EU’s GDP (European Commission 2018).
From 2015, the efforts to apply circular economy in the construction sector are
increasing. However, currently, the circular strategy, more promoted and applied,
regards waste management toward recycling (Giorgi et al. 2017). A lot of European
Projects (e.g., HISER PROJECT, Resource Efficient Use of Mixed Waste, DEMOCLES, ENCORT) and particularly Life Project (e.g., LIFE-PSLOOP Polystyrene
Loop; CDW recycling Innovative solution for the separation of construction and
demolition waste) investigate specific recycling strategies (inter-sectoral or within
the construction sector) of construction and demolition waste (Talamo and Migliore
2017). Moreover, the largest number of recycling case studies in the construction
sector regards downcycling process (such as recycling of inert as road substrate).
Instead, from a sustainable circular economy point of view, it is important to consider more valuable strategies that aim to avoid the generation of waste in upstream,
encouraging reuse practices and the life cycle extension of products.
Ellen MacArthur Foundation and CE100 network (2016) suggest the six actions,
within the “ReSOLVE framework” (regenerate, share, optimize, loop, virtualise,
exchange), to guide the transition toward a circular economy in the built environment
highlighting the objective of keeping resources into the cycles, creating new uses for
materials. This approach can open up new scenarios of a building materials market
and it has the potential for developing business model innovations. Other research
works (Cheshire 2016; Durmisevic 2018) consider the “Design for Disassembly” as
a valuable design strategy in order to encourage reuse processes at the end of the
product service life.
Starting from this background, the research Re-NetTA, funded by Fondazione
CARIPLO for the period 2019–2021, aims to define new organizational and operational models and new business strategies necessary to launch circular and regenerative economy processes based on re-manufacturing and involving the construction
and the manufacturing sectors. The research focuses on buildings for the tertiary
sector, usually characterized by quick cycles of renewal and reconfiguration, with
the aim of creating the organizational and business conditions to make buildings
“components banks” in a circular economy perspective.
2 From Waste to Resources: Short-Term Components
from Tertiary Sector and Temporary Use
Some parts of the building have a long service life, while other parts and components
have a short service life, requiring frequent replacement cycles and thus becoming
potential waste, even though they still have good residual performances. BAMB
report (Peters et al. 2017) indicates how often the different categories of products
C. Talamo et al.
in 2014 in the EU-28 (Eurostat 2016). Moreover, the construction sector gives a
lot of opportunities in job creation (currently, it provides 18 million direct jobs),
contributing to about the 9% of the EU’s GDP (European Commission 2018).
From 2015, the efforts to apply circular economy in the construction sector are
increasing. However, currently, the circular strategy, more promoted and applied,
regards waste management toward recycling (Giorgi et al. 2017). A lot of European
Projects (e.g., HISER PROJECT, Resource Efficient Use of Mixed Waste, DEMOCLES, ENCORT) and particularly Life Project (e.g., LIFE-PSLOOP Polystyrene
Loop; CDW recycling Innovative solution for the separation of construction and
demolition waste) investigate specific recycling strategies (inter-sectoral or within
the construction sector) of construction and demolition waste (Talamo and Migliore
2017). Moreover, the largest number of recycling case studies in the construction
sector regards downcycling process (such as recycling of inert as road substrate).
Instead, from a sustainable circular economy point of view, it is important to consider more valuable strategies that aim to avoid the generation of waste in upstream,
encouraging reuse practices and the life cycle extension of products.
Ellen MacArthur Foundation and CE100 network (2016) suggest the six actions,
within the “ReSOLVE framework” (regenerate, share, optimize, loop, virtualise,
exchange), to guide the transition toward a circular economy in the built environment
highlighting the objective of keeping resources into the cycles, creating new uses for
materials. This approach can open up new scenarios of a building materials market
and it has the potential for developing business model innovations. Other research
works (Cheshire 2016; Durmisevic 2018) consider the “Design for Disassembly” as
a valuable design strategy in order to encourage reuse processes at the end of the
product service life.
Starting from this background, the research Re-NetTA, funded by Fondazione
CARIPLO for the period 2019–2021, aims to define new organizational and operational models and new business strategies necessary to launch circular and regenerative economy processes based on re-manufacturing and involving the construction
and the manufacturing sectors. The research focuses on buildings for the tertiary
sector, usually characterized by quick cycles of renewal and reconfiguration, with
the aim of creating the organizational and business conditions to make buildings
“components banks” in a circular economy perspective.
2 From Waste to Resources: Short-Term Components
from Tertiary Sector and Temporary Use
Some parts of the building have a long service life, while other parts and components
have a short service life, requiring frequent replacement cycles and thus becoming
potential waste, even though they still have good residual performances. BAMB
report (Peters et al. 2017) indicates how often the different categories of products