Climate change, loss of biodiversity, scarcity of raw materials and a growing world population require a transformation of our global economic system with the aim of combining ecological, economic and social agendas in the sense of sustainable development. The circular economy makes a key contribution to this.
Through the Green Deal, the European Buildings Directive, the European Construction Products Regulation or the EU Taxonomy Regulation, the EU wants to tighten the sustainability assessment of building structures and products and to kick-start the circular economy in Europe.
Until now, the demand for primary raw materials has far exceeded the supply of waste materials, but in the future, more and more buildings constructed in the post-war years will enter the waste management sector and can be made available again to the construction industry as secondary raw materials. In addition, the availability of primary raw materials will continue to decrease.
The concept of the circular economy aims to ensure that products, materials and components are reused and recycled within a cycle and that hardly any waste is produced at the end.
Circular economy starts with the intelligent design of products and materials and covers the entire life cycle of products and services.
At the end of its life cycle, a product should be recycled as completely as possible and the raw materials it contains should be recoverable. The overall consideration also includes material, water and energy reduction during the individual production steps.
The circular economy conserves natural resources and is a prerequisite for achieving climate targets.
