Circular economy in green public procurement: a view from Italy

Published on August 29, 2022

In most situations, waste materials in the construction industry are not appropriately treated. Furthermore, the adoption of new technologies to improve building energy efficiency must take into account sustainable needs, and there should be greater demand for environmentally friendly building materials as well as a reduction in raw material consumption to contribute to sustainability.

The purpose of this case study is to illustrate that GPP makes a major and practical contribution to the sustainable demolition method to increasing recycling materials. The competitive processes were designed to demolish an old and abandoned military storehouse built in the 1950s with bricks, roof tiles, wooden doors and windows, and no insulation. Bidders were asked in the call for tender to take all disposal to the recycling center rather than the landfill and to deliver the Public Works Office with all relevant paperwork, such as:

-quantity of waste hauled.

- recycled disposal quantity.

The case study will ensure an increase in the number of materials recovered in the building industry, the call for tender must include explicit instructions on how to establish sustainable recovery waste management, land clearance, and construction material recovery. It is critical to disseminate this GPP paradigm in order for it to become common practice. The aim of the project is to identify and overcome the hurdles that limit the recovery of materials from demolition sites. Create a shared understanding among market participants in the construction sector. GPP should consider not only the procurement process and cost of circular economy in the construction sector, but also the value of doing so. Such studies suggest that skills need to be improved, as well as an increase in understanding of sustainability issues.

Although this case study is a small illustration of how GPP may be used, it demonstrates how effective GPP can be in shifting the market toward circular thinking and a circular maintenance and operations strategy. The results show, first and foremost, that it is feasible to implement a proper waste management strategy. Second, it is practical since the recycled center costs 8 euros per tonne and the landfill costs 80/120 euros per tonne. On the other hand, such examples are need to be executed in order to truly comprehend the hurdles that prohibit appropriate waste management from being used. This case study is based on meaningful waste management building sites, and the results suggest that circular approach works. It also demonstrates that circular approach may begin at the local level, but it is vital to identify the key to disseminating this practice and including local authorities in the adoption of circular approaches whenever practicable. It is also necessary to obtain a significant number of recovery materials in order to be profitable, as size does matter in some cases. After testing the quality with lab analysis, 2,46 tonnes of excavated dirt were reused totally on the same building site. 2781,1 tonnes concrete CER 170904 recovery guaranteed.

This case study is directly related to the work of the OPN SBC programme.