Recycling of demolition waste in the North of France and Belgium

In the North of France and Belgium, construction and demolition waste consists of clay residues mixed with concrete, wood, metals, PVC or glass. The fact that this waste is mixed poses an obstacle to its re-use.

Treatment centres and channels exist, but recovery rates remain below the targets set by European legislation (recycling of 70% of waste from construction and public works).

One of the Valdem project’s challenges is identifying efficient separation technologies (particularly for brick/concrete mixes) in order to produce "cleaner" waste streams that can then be used for new applications with higher added value, such as ready-mixed or pre-cast concrete.

Recovery of separated materials

Certain impurities, such as plaster, are particularly harmful to concrete’s sustainability – their presence can lead to deterioration of the mortar or concrete.

Another challenge faced by the project was therefore determining eligible thresholds and factors that accentuated these factors. The other issues were related to recovering separated materials.

Partners with complementary skills

The Centre Terre et Pierre (CTP), the project leader, is involved in material processing operations such as crushing, screening and separation. It also contributes to research looking at ways of recovering certain materials from separation processes. Néo-Eco also works in this area and has a great deal of experience in designing and implementing sorting facilities, particularly in the building and public works sector.

Another of Néo-Eco's missions is to use an environmental monitoring tool to verify the environmental safety and durability of recycled concrete materials.

The partners Armines-IMT Lille Douai and ULiège (GeMMe) are involved in determining the value of the materials.

INISMa's expertise is particularly required to ensure technical validation and market access. They are also looking into avenues for recovery of brick/concrete mixes in brickworks and in the geotechnical sector.

In order to evaluate demolition waste recovery solutions from an environmental, societal and economic point of view, a life cycle analysis was carried out by CD2E and ULiège (PEPs), who are partners. In addition, legislative monitoring was carried out by the CTP for the three areas of France, Wallonia, and Flanders.

Finally, in order to ensure transfer of the project results to an industrial context, a technical committee has been set up which brings together representatives from various associations and industrialists who work on projects related to the Valdem project. They contribute to the project by providing useful samples and information.

Raising awareness among businesses

Since the start of the project, many contacts have been established with Walloon, French and Flemish industrialists. As of 30 June 2019, discussions with 54 companies have taken place to raise awareness. Some of these companies have approached the project partners for various actions aimed at their development as well as to better understand the potential for recovering recycled products from demolition material.

The project should also make it possible to better objectify the technical feasibility of re-using certain recycled materials from the building and public works sector, which will in turn facilitate decisions that may be taken by the competent authorities, particularly in regulatory terms.

Total investment and European funding

Total investment for the “VALDEM - Integrated solutions for the recovery of building demolition materials” project is EUR 3 557 608; the European Regional Development Fund’s contribution amounts to EUR 1 778 804 under the “INTERREG V A” cooperation programme for the 2014-2020 programming period. The investment falls under the priority “Energy Union and Climate".