State of the art on recycling and reuse of stone and ceramic materials

One of the objectives of the REDiRECT project is to update the state of the art regarding the use of construction systems, materials and components obtained from the transformation of waste deriving mainly from the construction sector, both in the production and processing phases and in the construction and demolition phases (WP 7).

Research has therefore been carried out on the best practices adopted so far by organizing the case studies identified by type of material TM and conditions of employment CE.

What emerged from the "scanning" carried out on a national and international scale is the knowledge gap linked to the possibilities of reuse of ceramic and stone materials. In fact, there are many examples of architecture that reuse or recycle materials such as plastic, paper and metal or even wooden frames, containers, prefabricated elements in reinforced concrete, etc., while there are few practices related to the sector that generates 30% of the total volume of waste produced in Europe.

The new knowledge produced consists of an atlas that collects construction systems that have contributed to sustainability not only from the point of view of the system production (circular economy) but also to a reformulation of the role of waste stone and ceramic materials recovered as a performance improvement of the building envelope.