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M. Honic, I. Kovacic, P. Aschenbrenner, A. Ragossnig:
"Material Passports for the end-of-life stage of buildings: Challenges and potentials";
Journal of Cleaner Production, 319 (2021), 128702.

Concerns about the increasing global consumption of non-renewable resources as well as shortages of primary raw materials and reduction of space available for final disposal of waste are raising important issues for the society. Additionally, the unsustainable treatment of resources belongs to the main concerns of the EU, resulting in the development of strategies for maximizing recycling rates in order to minimize environmental impacts and energy consumption caused by extraction of primary materials.

In this paper, the Material Passport (MP) method, which evaluates the recycling potential and environmental impact of materials embedded in buildings, is demonstrated on a use case - a demolition object, in order to test its applicability at the end-of-life stage as well as to assess the recycling potential of the existing building.

Three acquisition methods were applied on the use case in order to obtain information on the material composition as well as geometrical information: laser scanning, demolition acquisition (DA) and Urban Mining assessment (UMA), with regards to the quality and separability of the materials. A BIM-Model (Building Information Modelling) was generated, integrating the acquired data, as well as serving as knowledge database, from which element lists with incorporated materials were exported and mapped to the regarding recycling grade.

As a result, an MP is generated for the exterior walls and the foundation, delivering information on the total masses, the share of recycling and waste masses, as well as the environmental impacts. The recycling potential of the exterior walls is ~52%, whereby the foundation has a recycling potential of ~20%. The existence of an MP at the end-of-life stage of a building can be seen as an outstanding advantage regarding recycling and reuse, thus supporting circularity and sustainability in the construction sector.

Material passports, Circular economy, End-of-life stage, Urban mining, Recycling potential, Waste minimization

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2021.128702