Urban construction for sustainability and climate adaptation: waste usage & renovations

Theme of the Peer-to-Peer Webinar: Urban construction for sustainability and climate adaptation: waste usage & renovations Speaker: Dr Anastasija Komkova, Postdoctoral Researcher, ETH Zurich, Switzerland Title :Environmental and economic impacts of urban-industrial symbiosis: recycling waste incineration ashes into construction materials. Urban waste incineration with energy recovery has a long tradition in Europe and offers advantages over the direct landfilling of municipal solid waste or sewage sludge. However, residues from waste incineration, including bottom ash and fly ash, are often underutilized, with approximately 50% currently landfilled across Europe. With advancing technologies, ashes can undergo pretreatment, enabling the extraction of ferrous and non-ferrous metals as well as critical raw materials such as phosphorus. The remaining residues can be used as supplementary cementitious materials, co-precursors in alkali-activated materials, or as clay substitutes in brick production. To foster the real-world establishment of urban–industrial symbiosis between cities, waste incinerators, and construction material producers, it is important to investigate the potential supply chains. As part of the European research project AshCycle, a methodology has been developed to examine the environmental and economic benefits and burdens of such urban–industrial symbioses at the territorial scale, with the aim of promoting the implementation of circular economy practices. ABOUT RILEM: The mission of RILEM is to advance scientific knowledge related to construction materials, systems and structures and to encourage transfer and application of this knowledge world-wide. This mission is achieved through collaboration of leading experts in construction practice and science including academics, researchers, testing laboratories and authorities.