UPSCALE: Cross-linking, Tracing and Reusing Construction and Demolition Waste (CDW) across Circular Supply Networks in Construction

The construction sector is responsible for 50% of raw material consumption and 35% of all waste. That poses a significant societal challenge, especially considering the strong commitments made on national and European levels to reduce climate impact and stimulate the implementation of a circular economy. Several initiatives have fueled the transition of the construction sector from a linear into a circular model, e.g., Buildings as Material Banks (BAMB), Material Passports, Platform CB’23, circularity hubs, Building Circularity Index, etc. However, further systemic changes are needed. Achieving a circular construction industry and reducing Construction and Demolition Waste (CDW) requires a holistic network effect, including societal awareness, engagement, and commitment to eliminate waste. The UPSCALE project investigates ways to enable this socio-technical paradigm shift, relying on the collective knowledge and expertise from research and innovation in practice to transform traditional supply chains into dynamic supply networks. The consortium is composed of dedicated partners that aim to leverage the potential of digitalisation to enable tracking, tracing and linking CDW using state-of-the-art decentralised, networked web technologies with decomposed asset data in Building Information Models and Digital Twins. Furthermore, behavioural research aims to stimulate the adoption of these technologies and the associated actions and procedures. That includes co-design studies with relevant partners and stakeholders (contractors, clients, engineering companies, waste management companies and product manufacturers) and a detailed investigation of existing and emerging material flows. New business processes and decision-making models are developed with a clear focus on upscaling these flows into CDW supply networks.

This research project aims to upscale circularity initiatives in the Netherlands for the construction sectors: building materials. The construction sector holds a very large share of the material and resource consumption globally. Nevertheless, several projects and approaches, in research as well as practice, show the way forward, and indicate how materials in construction can be effectively re-used. In this project, which includes strong contributions from companies and individuals in the Netherlands, such as VolkerWessels, ABN AMRO, Huisrijk, Witteveen+Bos, Innotractor, and so on, aims to scale up those initiatives such that they achieve a much wider adoption in the Netherlands. In a time period of 5 years, this project in collaboration with Utrecht University, Technical University of Delft, and Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences aims to make a change in (1) behavior, (2) economy, and (3) systems related to the circular economy for the Netherlands. Through a series of several co-creation sessions, this research output on decentralised material re-use is collectively created with a broader audience of knowledge institutes, companies, and citizens for the Netherlands.