Abstract
In recent times, the construction industry has been handling circular economy strategies in order to face the most important challenges in the sector, namely the lack of raw materials and the environmental impacts derived from all the processes linked to the entire supply chain. The industrial symbiosis approach represents an effective strategy to improve the circularity of the construction industry. This study analyses the circularity performance of an emerging industrial symbiosis network derived from the production of a cement mortar reinforced with recycled synthetic fibers coming from artificial turf carpets. From the collection of artificial turf carpets at the end-of-life stage it is possible to recover several materials, leading to potential unusual interactions between industries belonging to different sectors. A suitable indicator, retrieved from the literature, the Industrial Symbiosis Indicator (ISI), has been used to estimate the level of industrial symbiosis associated with increasing materials recirculation inside the network. Four scenarios—ranging from perfect linearity to perfect circularity—representing growing circularity were tested. Findings demonstrate that the development of an effective industrial symbiosis network can contribute to improving the circular approach within the construction sector, reducing environmental and economic pressures.
Highlights
The construction industry is one of the most environmentally damaging, responsible for consuming over 32% of the world’s natural resources [1]
The production of innovative concrete reinforced with recycled synthetic fibers returned from artificial turf carpets has contributed to increasing secondary material exchanges and the level of symbiotic activity in a network of companies
The present study evaluated the circular performance of the emerging network through the application of an indicator retrieved from the literature
Summary
The construction industry is one of the most environmentally damaging, responsible for consuming over 32% of the world’s natural resources [1]. The annual global extraction of materials has grown from 22 billion to 70 billion tons from 2002 to 2017 [2]. 750 MT for construction activities, seriously threatening the environment [4]. Environmental impact is linked to material production that includes transport and manufacturing processes related to the construction industry [5]. Raw material supply is a dominant phase for the entire life-cycle environmental impact of the most-used construction materials (e.g., concrete and steel), accounting in 2018 for about 80% of related global warming potential (GWP) [6]
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