Circular construction is a branch of circular economy (CE) that seeks to reduce the environmental impacts in the built environment through intelligent, sustainable, and circular practices. Examples such as design for reuse, use of recycled materials, and regenerative infrastructure are nascent concepts within the construction industry, as most focus is directed towards buildings with less focus given to other forms of infrastructure, especially roads. A pilot project, known as GoGreen, has been developed for a Norwegian highway project, where materials from demolition are recovered and sorted on the construction site and sent for recycling. While construction projects typically recover less than 40% of waste, GoGreen uses careful planning and implementation to recover nearly 100% of waste materials for recycling. In this chapter, we investigate the circular concepts implemented in the Betna-Hesnes highway project to understand if the choices made lead to lower emissions and to help understand the scale and relevance of these actions as part of larger infrastructure projects. Through the use of life cycle assessment (LCA), we have analysed the processes for collecting, sorting, and recycling materials on the Betna-Hesnes project to understand the overall environmental footprint and attempt to quantify the impact of circular activities. The overall environmental benefit from the GoGreen tent was approximately 89 tons of CO2-equivalents saved. The results of this study will be useful for policymakers and actors within the construction industry to give greater insight into what actions can lead to the best environmental outcome and to push the road construction industry towards greater circularity.

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Assessing the Environmental Benefit of Circular Economy Decisions for Managing Waste in Road Construction: The Norwegian GoGreen Case Study

  • Reyn O’Born,
  • Alexander Vetnes

摘要

Circular construction is a branch of circular economy (CE) that seeks to reduce the environmental impacts in the built environment through intelligent, sustainable, and circular practices. Examples such as design for reuse, use of recycled materials, and regenerative infrastructure are nascent concepts within the construction industry, as most focus is directed towards buildings with less focus given to other forms of infrastructure, especially roads. A pilot project, known as GoGreen, has been developed for a Norwegian highway project, where materials from demolition are recovered and sorted on the construction site and sent for recycling. While construction projects typically recover less than 40% of waste, GoGreen uses careful planning and implementation to recover nearly 100% of waste materials for recycling. In this chapter, we investigate the circular concepts implemented in the Betna-Hesnes highway project to understand if the choices made lead to lower emissions and to help understand the scale and relevance of these actions as part of larger infrastructure projects. Through the use of life cycle assessment (LCA), we have analysed the processes for collecting, sorting, and recycling materials on the Betna-Hesnes project to understand the overall environmental footprint and attempt to quantify the impact of circular activities. The overall environmental benefit from the GoGreen tent was approximately 89 tons of CO2-equivalents saved. The results of this study will be useful for policymakers and actors within the construction industry to give greater insight into what actions can lead to the best environmental outcome and to push the road construction industry towards greater circularity.