Regulatory barriers for the circular economy Case study: Recycling of aggregates into new building materials Author/presenter: Kathrin Enenkel, Joost van Barneveld, Technopolis group

Sorting, breaking, straining Overview Gravel extraction Sorting, breaking, straining Recycled product Concrete factory Civil engineering Demolition Joost (Technopolis) will finalise schemes in more professional style if he receives them by Friday noon (11 March) Buildings Conventional stream Circular stream Regulatory barrier Competition point

Regulatory barrier Environmental characteristics (e.g. the authorized share of sulphates in the aggregates) do not exist in norm EN 12620 It only defines technical characteristics for aggregates such as chemical, geometrical or physical requirements Diverging member state standards arise

Effects of regulatory barrier Economic effects: Lacking definition causes diverging national implementations which hinders intra-EU trade. Companies producing the secondary aggregates need authority approval which is costly, takes time and decreases trust. Environmental effects: Secondary material is often used in civil engineering. The alternative of landfilling creates unnecessary environmental burdens Increased transports in border regions of heavy and voluminous materials

Observations on removal of regulatory barrier The Commission is aware of the missing environmental parameters in the norm EN12620. Established a committee to develop common test methods and environmental classes for ecological characteristics of aggregates to be used in buildings. The largest barrier –Diverging national environmental parameters - cannot be resolved, as this is not a competence of the European Commission. Option: Establish environmental classes/categories that recognise country-specific requirements with regard to environmental parameters. As a consequence, intra-MS trade would only require transcoding instead of re-certification.