MWCC has been present at the presentation of the results of VALREC, a project led by Tecnalia. VALREC was born with the objective of developing innovative solutions to increase the circularity, traceability and purity of mineral resources present in Construction and Demolition Waste (CDW), and thus carry out eco-efficient manufacturing of new construction products.

SIKA, SODIRA, HORMICRUZ, KOLOKIUM and GBCe (Green Building Council Spain) participate in the project and also have the support of the technological research and development center TECNALIA, the Eduardo Torroja Institute of Construction Sciences IETcc and the Autonomous University of Madrid UAM.

VALREC is a subsidized project within the framework of the 2020 call for aid to contribute to the improvement of public-private cooperation in R&D in areas of strategic importance for the Madrid economy on driving projects developed by Open Innovation Nuclei ( Innovation HUBS) within the Regional Research Strategy for Intelligent Specialization (RIS3) and is co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) of the ERDF Operational Program of the Community of Madrid for the period 2014-2020.

The project seeks to create an economic, environmental and social impact, among which the following stand out:

1) increase by approximately 30% the circularity of mineral resources towards construction products with greater added value with a horizon of 2025, avoiding the dumping of up to 2 million tons per year of CDW;

2) reduce the carbon footprint around the participating companies by approximately 20% compared to the starting situation;

3) job creation to develop this project, by companies and collaborating knowledge dissemination and generation organizations (TECNALIA, IETCC and UAM);

4) the economic impact on companies would reach 17.2 million euros annually as a result of the exploitation of the results after making a private investment of approximately 2 million euros.

5) retraining of professionals and generation of knowledge among construction and valorization machinery companies around digital and green technologies.

Efficient and sustainable solutions

The different solutions that VALREC will provide are conceived from a holistic approach, adapted to the local CAM scenario, which addresses overcoming different technological and market obstacles. With this, it seeks to ensure the closing of cycles in construction materials and products through efficient recovery and the use of new digital traceability technologies that take into account circular economy criteria and resource and energy efficiency.

The solutions investigated in the project will be associated with:

1) selective demolition and quality traceability through the digitalization of information;

2) use of innovative technologies to obtain recycled raw materials of higher purity and improved qualities;

3) incorporation of a higher percentage (with a goal of up to 95% by weight) of the same in new products for the construction sector with an increase in their performance;

4) demonstration and validation of eco-designed solutions, as well as new digital solutions that allow for greater detail of information throughout the value chain.

5) Analyze and study the results obtained from a technical, commercial, and environmental point of view and analyze the exploitation of results and propose new business models derived from the project.

Sector challenges

VALREC was born with the objective of managing this waste in a more sustainable way, aligning with the main challenges of the construction sector to achieve greater efficiency of material resources and sustainability, with a focus on closing intelligent cycles:

• Circular economy “Circular Spain 2030”: providing greater efficiency and closing cycles in the use of material resources.
• Climate change “European Green Deal”: promoting the development of alternative technologies, materials and construction products that substantially reduce greenhouse gas emissions in their extraction, manufacturing, transportation, construction and service stages.
• Digitization of the “Digital Spain 2025” sector: improving digital information about materials throughout the life cycle and supply chain.

In the Community of Madrid, between 5 and 7 million tons of Construction and Demolition Waste (CDW) per year originate, nearly 36 million tons in Spain  and 461 Mt if we refer to the European level. Of the total RCD generated, approximately 30% are recycled for low added value uses and it is estimated that 30% of RCD is disposed of they end up in inert waste landfills without being treated and 40% are disposed of in an uncontrolled manner in waste dumps and uncontrolled natural spaces.