Innovative waste management practices on construction sites in Brussels

Innovative waste management practices on construction sites in Brussels: Lessons learned from pilots

Romnée, A.
Vrijders, J.

2017-06-21

In recent years, waste prevention and management have gained importance due to the economic and environmental impact of waste on construction sites. Although some innovative practices have already been experimentally put in practice, it remains difficult to apply them in densely built regions due to lack of space and time, and lack of knowledge regarding quantities produced and new solutions. In order to improve the knowledge of the construction sector on waste management and to improve the environmental impact of construction works, several innovative practices, focusing on prevention and waste management, have been implemented and validated on ten pilot construction sites in Brussels. For each of the pilot projects, an estimation of the amount and type of waste arising has been made, before the beginning of the construction works, in order to establish an economical and environmental optimized waste management scenario to be applied on site. Based on the quantities, several innovative approaches were implemented by contractors in collaboration with the supply chain actors of the construction site (waste collectors, material suppliers, material producers, architects and clients): the commitment of social economy enterprises to the sorting out and collection of waste on site ; the quantification and monitoring of arising waste ; the industrial symbiosis between contractors and other local economic actors; the reuse of materials salvaged on site ; specific recovery channels for closed-loop recycling. The paper describes the lessons learned from the experiments of these innovative practices and highlights on the conditions that need to be fulfilled in order to repeat the good practices on other construction sites. These pilot construction sites show that innovative waste management practices can provide large practical, economic and environmental advantages.

innovative practices
waste management
pilot projects
construction sites
circular economy

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