Circularity Micro-Indicators to Building and Construction Sector: Plastic Products Perspective

Abstract

The civil construction sector has been a large contributor for the continuous global increase in the consumption of plastics. However, while the properties of plastics make them very suitable for several civil construction applications, their sustainability is a concern, mostly because current approaches for design and manufacturing do not properly consider their entire lifecycle and end-of-life management. The combined factors of a global population growth and increase demand for housing, together with a standard irresponsible societal behaviour with construction and demolition wastes, is worsening the global environmental pollution crisis. Much of the recycled plastic entering the European market is applied into civil construction applications, but most current usage is not environmentally friendly. It is vital to preserve and optimize existing resources, which requires employing circular economy concepts and strategies, and for that, one must be able to measure the circularity of a product. Circularity indicators are very interesting in this scope. However, a plethora of such tools exist in the literature, with mismatched features and scope. This paper provides an analysis of the circularity micro-indicators more relevant to the Building and Construction sector, while identifying guidelines and good practices to promote this application sector transition to a more circular economy.