APPRICOD

Assessing the Potential of Plastics Recycling in the Construction and Demolition Activities

Objectives

With the co-funding of the European Commission’s LIFE-Environment programme, the project APPRICOD - Assessing the Potential of Plastic Recycling in Construction and Demolition Activities – lasted from December 2003 to Mai 2006. It aimed at developing a partnership between various European actors to promote the selective collection of plastic waste from construction and demolition (C&D) activities.

Its objectives:

• to optimise the selective collection of plastic waste from C&D sites. To achieve this, a variety of sorting and selective collection scenarios were evaluated in pilot projects
• to evaluate the costs associated with the selective collection of plastic C&D waste
• to disseminate at European level examples of sustainable management of plastic C&D waste

Activities

ACR+ and the partners have contributed to the project, notably through the analysis and description of the legal framework and of the practical organisation of the C&D waste management in several European countries (Germany, Austria, the Netherlands and Denmark). The project has constituted one of the important activities in 2006 since ACR+ was responsible for drawing conclusions from the actions implemented and for the dissemination of the project results.

In order to do so, ACR+ with the contribution of IBGE-BIM have organised a European Worskhop held in Brussels on 24th April 2006.

Deliverables

ACR+ has produced a summary leaflet, as well as a guide entitled “Towards Sustainable Plastic Construction and Demolition Waste Management in Europe”.

The objectives of this guide are:

• to provide information on the technical, environmental and economic aspects of plastic C&D waste management
• to give an insight view on current leading experiences for plastic C&D waste sorting and recycling based on the European and specific national legal and financial frameworks
• to learn from the experience of the pilot-projects carried out at local and regional level as part of the Life project APPRICOD. These pilot projects aimed at implementing different scenarios for sorting and selectively collecting plastic C&D waste
• to draft practical recommendations towards public authorities, especially local and regional authorities and good practices for the C&D sector with the common objective of promoting plastic C&D waste sorting and recycling

The guide “Towards Sustainable Plastic Construction and Demolition Waste Management in Europe” is available in 6 languages.

You can freely download the full table of contents here:

• in English
• en français
• en català
• em português
• in italiano
• in het Nederlands

Download the full report (free of charge): 

• English version 
• version française
• versión català
• versão portuguesa
• versione italiana
• Nederlandse versie

The leaflet, which summerizes the project, is available in:

• in English
• en français
• en espanola  
• en català
• em português
• in italiano    
• in het Nederlands

Copies of all the deliverables can be ordered (depending on stock available) at the ACR+ secretariat by filling in the form.  

Partnership

This project is based on a partnership between local and regional authorities, European federations of plastics industry, and the construction and demolition sector.

Local and regional authorities:

• ACR+: Association of Cities and Regions for Recycling and sustainable Resource management, Belgium
• ARC : Agència de Residus de Catalunya , Spain
• IBGE-BIM: Brussels Institute for the Management of the Environment, Belgium
• LIPOR : Serviço Intermunicipalizado de Gestão de Resíduos do Grande Porto, Portugal
• Provincia di Ancona, Italia

Construction and demolition sector:

• BBRI: Belgian Building Research Institute, Belgium
• CCB-C : Brussel Confederation of Construction, Belgium
• EDA: European Demolition Association, The Netherlands

Plastics industry :

• PlasticsEurope, formerly APME: Association of Plastics Manufacturers in Europe, Belgium
• ECVM: European Confederation of Vinyl Manufacturers, Belgium
• EuPC: European Plastics Converters, Belgium
• EuPR: European Plastics Recyclers, Belgium

With the contribution of LIFE, financial instrument of the European Commission (DG Environment Directorate E / Life-Environment)

Coordinator : IBGE-BIM: Brussels Institute for the Management of the Environment, Belgium

Duration: 30 months (November 2003 to May 2006)

For more information, visit the APPRICOD project website

For any further information:

O. De Clercq - odc@acrplus.org - Tel +32 2 775 78 57

C. Piersotte - cpi@acrplus.org - Tel +32 2 775 75 84