Improving Resource-Efficiency in the Circular Value Chain of Plastic in Construction

The amount of plastic used in the construction industry, very low recycling rates, and loss of valuable materials into incineration are unstainable. Current recycling solutions are narrow in scope, developed to treat relatively simple and homogeneous material flows. Improving resource efficiency of plastic circularity in construction is further hampered by five divides that illustrate fragmentation and a lack of holistic perspective in the value chain; information, materials, actors, analytics, and market/services. Responding to this, this project combines the range of actors in the value chain of construction plastic circularity with the analytical depth provided by live cycle thinking and life cycle assessment. Through a co-creative research design that engages key actors in the value chain, methods to assess gains of improve resource-efficiency of solutions are developed and prototypes are proposed for optimizing the life cycle-wide management of plastic in the construction industry. Actionable principles of “from plastic literacy to plastic circularity” accelerate the transition through changed actor behaviour and new actor constellations that lead to co-creation of new and innovative service offerings (‘circularity as a service’) and quantified climate as well as resource gains. The excellent constellation of project partners and co-creative research design ensures ongoing knowledge creation and -dissemination from the very beginning of the project.