Summary and presentations from the "Crushed concrete as aggregate" workshop

The Concrete Innovation Cluster organized a workshop "Crushed concrete as aggregate" in cooperation with the Norwegian Concrete Association. The purpose of the workshop was to identify barriers and measures that can contribute to increasing the reuse of crushed concrete. The workshop brought together around 40 key players from demolition contractors, concrete producers, crushed stone and aggregate suppliers, waste companies, industry associations and academia.

In building and construction projects, large material resources are seized throughout the life of the building or construction. There is an increasing focus on optimizing resource use and stricter demands are being made for better resource utilization. National targets have been set for the construction industry to achieve a higher degree of circular economy. With this, circularity in the concrete industry has become an important area of focus. The Norwegian Concrete Association's environmental committee issued December 2022 NB Report 10. "Circular economy for concrete" and the Concrete Innovation Cluster (CIC) have defined "Rehabilitation, reuse and recycling" as a focus area.

Leif-Gunnar Hanssen, manager of Circulus project presented the "Through CIRCULUS, key actors within the concrete and waste industry are seeking to obtain new knowledge that will increase reuse, recycling and lower the environmental footprint of concrete constructions in a life- cycle perspective." The talk was very well received.

The outcome of this workshop:
If we are to increase the demand for recycled crushed concrete, then the product "Circular concrete" must be defined and classified. Can "pledge solutions for crushed concrete" be developed? Possible sub-projects that were proposed were:

  • Clarification of barriers, including which laws, regulations (and points in the Planning and Building Act) need to be changed.
  • Proposals for sustainable business models, including how 'upcycling' can take place and possible deposit arrangements, demolition fees etc.
  • Handbook for the classification of recycled aggregate (RCA) and concrete with recycled aggregate (BRT) as input for consultants and builders (both for use in demolition and new construction).
  • Development of test methods and procedures for mapping properties of RCA before demolition based on the current 'Concrete guide' from the Forum for remediation and environmental mapping.
  • Study trip to the Netherlands and Belgium to survey 'best practice'.

We are very open to other input, and please get in touch if you wish to contribute here. We believe the solution lies in good cooperation between the actors.