Knocking down a building results in a lot of waste ...

The construction industry uses a huge amount of raw materials - and throws most of them away once the buildings come down. Some European countries do better at beating this linear pattern than others, and one project took on the challenge of making recycled building material a marketable product.

The Interreg North-West Europe project SeRaMCo (Secondary Raw Material for Concrete Precast Products) focused on researching and promoting the use of secondary raw materials from construction and demolition waste (CDW). Specifically, it worked on recycling concrete, bricks, tiles and ceramics to manufacture concrete precast products comparable to conventional products in terms of cost and quality, and ready to be placed on the market in North-West Europe. As a proof of concept, SeRaMCo tested its end-products in three pilot areas: Seraing in Belgium, Saarlouis in Germany and Moseille in France. In Germany, for instance, it used recycled concrete products to build a pavillion.

The partnership brought together partners from industry, research and public authorities.