“VALREC is integrated into “Open Innovation Business Hubs” co-financed by the Community of Madrid and the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF)”
It will prevent the dumping of up to two million tons of CDWs per year and will bring a 20% reduction in the carbon footprint of companies.
VALREC was created with the aim of developing innovative solutions to increase the circularity, traceability, and purity of mineral resources present in Construction and Demolition Waste (CDW), and thus to make an eco-efficient production of new construction products.
The initiative aims to create an economic, environmental, and social impact including:
1) An increase in the circulation of mineral resources to higher value-added construction products by approximately 30% by the 2025 horizon, avoiding dumping up to two million tons per year of RCDs.
2) A reduction of the carbon footprint of participating companies by approximately 20% from the initial situation.
3) The creation of employment to develop this project, by the companies and the collaborating knowledge generation and dissemination bodies (TECNALIA, IETCC, and UAM).
4) An economic impact on companies that would reach 17.2 million euros per year as a result of the exploitation of the findings after a private investment of approximately 2 million euros.
5) Re-training of professionals and knowledge generation among construction companies and recovery machines on digital and green technologies.
Efficient and sustainable solutions
The different solutions that VALREC will bring are conceived from a holistic approach, adapted to the Community of Madrid’s local scenario, that addresses the overcoming of different technological and market challenges. This project seeks to ensure the closure of cycles in construction materials and products through the efficient recovery and the use of new digital traceability technologies, taking into account circular economy, and resource and energy efficiency criteria.
The solutions researched within the framework of the project will be associated with:
- Selective demolition and quality traceability through digitisation of information.
- Use of novel technologies to obtain recycled raw materials of higher purity and improved qualities.
- Incorporation of a higher percentage (with a target of up to 95% in weight) of these in new products for the construction sector with an improvement in performance.
- Demonstration and validation of eco-designed solutions, as well as new digital solutions that allow for more detailed information throughout the value chain.
- Assessment and study of the results obtained from the technical, commercial, and environmental point of view and analysis of the exploitation of results and proposal of new business models deriving from the project.
The industry’s challenges
VALREC manages this waste more sustainably, aligning with the construction industry’s main challenges to achieve greater material resource efficiency and sustainability with a smart cycle closure approach:
- Circular economy “Circular Spain 2030”: providing greater efficiency and closure of cycles in the use of material resources.
- Climate change “European Green Deal”: encouraging the development of alternative technologies, materials, and construction products that substantially reduce greenhouse gas emissions in their extraction, manufacturing, transport, commissioning, and service stages.
- Digitisation of the sector in “2025 Digital Spain”: improving digital information about materials throughout the life cycle and supply chain.
The Community of Madrid itself generates between five and seven million tons of Construction and Demolition Waste (CDW) each year; about 36 million tons in Spain, and 461 M tons at a European level. Of the total CDWs generated, approximately 30% are recycled for low added-value uses.
It is estimated that 30% of CDWs are disposed of, untreated, in inert waste dumps, while 40% are disposed of uncontrollably in rubbish and natural spaces.
Contribution to the improvement of public-private cooperation in R&D
Surge Ambiental y Valoriza (Sacyr Group) leads the VALREC initiative together with seven other companies from the Community of Madrid: ALLGAIER MOGENSEN, ADCORE, SIKA, SODIRA, HORMICRUZ, KOLOKIUM, and GBCe (Spain Green Building Council). The initiative has the support of the TECNALIA Research and Technological Development Centre, the Eduardo Torroja Institute for Construction Science (IETcc), and the Autonomous University of Madrid (UAM).
VALREC is a project funded within the framework of the 2020 call for aid to contribute to the improvement of public-private cooperation in R&D in areas of strategic importance for Madrid’s economy on tractor projects developed by Open Innovation Centres (INNOVATION HUBS) within the Regional Research and Innovation Smart Specialisation Strategy (RIS3). It is co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) of the ERDF Operational Program of the Community of Madrid for the 2014-2020 period.
The project budget amounts to over 5 million euros and will last two years.
