Circular economy

Towards circular construction

Pilot projects and common standards for reuse of building materials are to boost transition to circular construction.

The Aarhus-based property developer Olav de Linde stands in his warehouse filled with building materials that need to be recycled.
The Aarhus-based property developer Olav de Linde stands in his warehouse filled with building materials that need to be recycled. Photo: Martin Dam Kristensen

grand solutions

Innovation Fund Denmark’s Grand Solutions projects are investments in typically high-risk projects that focus on ambitious results with high value creation, whether in the form of new knowledge, improved and/or new processes, systems, products, or solutions to political priority challenges in society.

In a new Grand Solution research project entitled StructuralReuse and anchored at DTU, a consortium will develop methods for testing and documenting the quality of reused building components. The project has received funding of DKK 10.6 million from Innovation Fund Denmark and Realdania.

How to use building materials again

Reuse

Reuse is when you have discarded a product or material and use it in the same form and for the same purpose as when it was discarded.

Recycling

In recycling, the product or material is incorporated in the production of a new product. For example, concrete and bricks are crushed, and the materials are used as a base layer under roads.

Other utilization

Other utilization of waste is when the waste replaces other materials, but is not currently prepared for reuse or recycling. For example, this could be if the waste is used as a filler and replacement of soil, road construction gravel, and the like, or if the waste replaces other fuel.

Source: The Danish Environmental Protection Agency

Contact

Lisbeth M. Ottosen

Lisbeth M. Ottosen Professor, head of section for Materials and Durability Department of Environmental and Resource Engineering Phone: +45 45252260 Mobile: +45 51500040