Construction and demolition waste (CDW) is generated during the construction, renovation, and demolition of buildings or structures. Components of construction and demolition waste typically include concrete, asphalt, wood, metals, gypsum wallboard, roofing, paper, plastic, drywall and glass. Most of the time construction and demolition waste ends up in landfills disturbing environmental, economic and social life-cycle. An estimated six billion tons of CDW is generated globally every year, twice of the amount of MSW. Demolition represents more than 90% of total CDW debris generation, while construction represents less than 10%. Currently, less than one third is recycled.
Construction and demolition waste is a fast-growing commodity in our society. The ability to put it to good use will not only improve the environmental impact in terms of raw materials preservation and geological landscaping, but also increase the economic and societal sustainability. Concrete is the second most consumed material in the world after water, so recycling of concrete should be the number one priority in construction circular economy planning. Once concrete is removed from the CDW mix, recycling the other materials, either for further use, as raw materials or for energy, becomes much simpler.
Recycling of CDW has many benefits such as reduction in transportation costs, keeping the environment clean and minimizing natural resource exploitation. The promotion of recycling and reuse of waste starts with increased awareness about its effects and benefits. This is the basis for sustainable development, which is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. Sustainable development in construction will help reduce the problems related to environment and natural resources as construction industry is a major user of world’s resources. Sustainable design, proper use and reuse of the resources/construction materials will make construction industry more economically responsible and green.
With proper sorting methodology, up to 80%of the CDW can be recycled for further use in the construction industry. The remaining 20% consists mainly of contaminated wood-products which are not suitable for recycling, organic insulation materials, bitumen-based membranes, plastics, paper and rubber. These can be easily processed into Solid Recovered Fuel (SRF) for waste-to-energy power plants, such as wasteWOIMA®. SRF can replace both fossil fuels and biomasses in power generation and thus support the circular economy principle and sustainability.
WOIMA has the perfect solution to recycle the SRF into energy with our waste-to-value solutions, and thus reduce the waste-induced challenges. We have developed the wasteWOIMA® power plant that can use new waste as fuel, as well as incinerate away the waste already existing at landfills and dumpsites. The wasteWOIMA® power plant recycles the waste into energy in the most efficient and safe manner reducing the waste quantity by over 95%.
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WOIMA Corporation is a Finnish supplier of best-in-class waste-to-value products, projects and services worldwide. We have developed solutions that enable us, and the customer, to transform and recycle virtually any waste stream into raw materials and energy. At WOIMA we combine Finnish engineering know-how in waste management with power generation design expertise. These solutions are used in Finland every day. They support the circular economy ideology and ensure that less than 1% of Finland’s waste ends up in landfills.
Our mission is to improve quality of life both locally and globally, as well as empower people to utilize waste as a commodity. Our decades of international project management experience ensure an on-time, in-budget and high-quality WOIMA solution delivery across the globe.
