About the SUM4Re project
SUM4Re is the acronym of “Creating materials banks from digital urban mining”.
The SUM4Re project is co-funded by the European Commission and aims to reduce waste and promote circular construction practices. It proposes an integrated approach to the creation of material banks from built-up areas, combining urban mining, automated in situ data acquisition technologies and the identification of building components and materials with value for new uses.
The project will include the implementation of three pilot demonstration projects linked to construction projects, and a strategy to improve the qualification of the construction workforce and facilitate the uptake of solutions developed by companies and professional groups with interests in the sector.
The project aims to achieve 9 objectives , including developing a traceability system for building materials, developing a holistic methodological framework for assessing circular use of construction products, and developing on-site and off-site smart digital solutions to identify construction entities and analyse their properties.
The methodology of SUM4Re is based on a systemic approach that encompasses 3 main activities :
- identification
- analysis
- contribution to circularity.
The project aims to develop software tools and databases based on robust identification assisted by AI and other digital techniques, supported by blockchain solutions, and consider circular economy processes such as Reduce, Reuse, Repair, Recycle, and Renovate. SUM4Re will improve the BIM standard to support current circular (C-BIM) challenges, following open standards and ensuring interoperability with commercial databases.
Construction and demolition waste (excluding mining waste) represents the largest waste stream in the EU in terms of total tonnes. In 2020, the total amount of construction and demolition waste in EU countries was 330 million tonnes (excluding excavation and dredging activities).
The intensive use of raw materials in the construction sector accounts for over 40% of greenhouse gas emissions, including the use of primary materials, which are threatened by their scarcity, high economic value and environmental impact.
Although the recovery rate of construction and demolition waste is high in the EU, this waste is mainly used in low added-value applications, such as scrap and other low-value construction systems.
Almost all construction by-products can be recycled. The key is the cost of these secondary materials when they reach the market, so that it is not higher than that of primary materials based on the 2 Press release consumption of new raw materials.
Pedro Arias Sánchez
Professor at the UVigo School of Mining and Energy Engineering, and researcher at Cintecx
As for the by-products with the greatest market penetration, these vary from region to region in Europe, depending on the materials most in demand in the construction sector, although Mr Arias points out that in terms of CO2 savings, the re-use of concrete waste is by far the greatest savings potential, followed by the recycling of oil, asphalt, wood and PVC. What’s more, 30% of construction and demolition waste is landfilled.
It is against this backdrop, and in line with the green agenda that the EU has been promoting for several years, that SUM4Re has been launched.
Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union.
Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.