ECO innovative methodologies for the valorisation of construction and urban waste into high grade TILES

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

BACKGROUND

Currently, more than half of all materials extracted globally (over three billion tonnes/year in the EU only) are transformed for use in construction. The EU aims to reduce the environmental impact of the construction sector by recycling or re-using large amounts of these materials, thus reducing the consumption of raw materials and helping promote the sector’s economic stability. Construction and demolition waste (CDW) has been identified by the Commission as a priority waste stream due to the huge amounts generated (around 850 Mt/year) and its high potential for re-use and recycling.

CDW usually comes in a complex and mixed form that is very difficult to recycle. Currently, the main option for CWD disposal is landfill. However, the construction materials manufacturing industry produces considerable amounts of ceramic-based waste as production process scraps and waste that is not recycled in large volumes at present. But Europe still lacks structured networks for the collection and re-use of CDW and manufacturing waste in a formal value chain (as is the case of glass or metal waste).

OBJECTIVES

The general objective of the LIFE ECO TILES project was to contribute to the achievement of EU 2020 goals on waste and resource efficiency, reducing emissions, waste, impacts on human health and the environment. To this end, LIFE ECO TILES would adopt a life-cycle approach, enabling the identification of all possible improvements throughout the product’s life-cycle stages.

 

Specific objectives were to:

• Demonstrate an innovative methodology that integrates promising research results to produce a new generation of tiles made almost entirely (up to 70%) with recycled materials and with substantially lower environmental impacts compared to current best-in-market products. Main innovations are related to: the creation of pozzolan cement made with CDW and/or construction waste precursors (15% weight of the tile); the substitution of aggregates with recycled glass (around. 50-60% of total weight); the production of high-grade precast products; and the adaptation of a patented low-energy production process (less than 20% compared to current state of the art);
• Demonstrate using a set of well-designed testing and validation activities on 300 m2 of demo products the improved environmental performance in the production process of precast products, through the re-use and recycling of several streams of urban waste as well as lower energy consumption;
• Build and maintain a collection and valorisation network in the Marche region (with a focus on CDW, production of building material and glass), including fostering of green public procurement; and
• Increase awareness of the improved eco-innovative solutions among the general public, policy-makers and in the European industry, focusing on the environmental and economic advantages as well as on the technical feasibility of innovations such as LIFE ECO TILES.
  

RESULTS

The LIFE ECO TILES project produced a new generation of tiles made almost entirely of recycled materials and with substantially lower environmental impacts compared to current best-in-market products. Three versions of industrial precast-products (Terrazzo tiles) were designed with up to 77% content of recycled CDW building materials (mainly ceramics) and glass waste. The project moreover engineered a low-energy industrial process for manufacturing the recycled tiles on an industrial scale. The process produced 300 m² of demonstration products whose performance compares favourably to conventional products made of virgin materials. Finally, the project team produced four protocols for testing and selecting the best waste materials to create recycled pre-casted products.

 

The team also created a regional waste management network that included construction companies, recovery plants, the academic sector (technical institutes and universities), environmental associations, industrial associations, and institutional representatives (mayors and Marche region officials) to discuss the new eco-tiles developed and the regulatory framework for supporting their adoption.

 

Specific environmental results include:

• Emissions savings of around 2.2 kg of CO2 per m² of tile compared to the standard Terrazzo tile –eco-tiles process allows saving of 19% of CO2eq/m² for single-layer tiles and 11% for the double-layer tiles, which contains also CDW.
• Landfill savings of CDW (31.25 kg/m² of tiles) and glass waste (between 33.10 and 34.56 kg/m² of tiles);
• Energy savings of 0.43 kWh/m² for single-layer tiles (16% reduction with reference to traditional tiles) and 0.73 kWh/m² of energy for double-layer tiles (18% reduction with reference to traditional tiles).

 

The ECO-TILES process is very relevant to the policy framework as the recovery of material from CDW and glass waste stream allows meeting the targets set by Waste Framework Directive (2008/98/EC) and the Landfill Directive (1999/31/EC). Moreover, the project promoted green public procurement (GPP) practices through the creation of the regional waste network in Marche region to facilitate the recycling of CDW and glass waste. The project created an improved collection scheme and supports the related value chain of different waste streams at local level, using local resources as much as possible. The project also established an ‘industrial symbiosis’ approach to fostering GPP benefits at local level and contributed to the implementation of the EU action plan for the circular economy. The project approach could be replicated in other parts of Europe where similar conditions exist (e.g. local supply of material, niche markets).

 

Further information on the project can be found in the project's layman report and After-LIFE Communication Plan  (see "Read more" section).