The goal of the project is to develop options for an optimization of supply and demand of recycling mineral construction materials from an ecological perspective. Therefore demand and supply of mineral construction materials will be analyzed and modeled and scenarios and strategies for an ecological construction material management will be developed and assessed. In particular, the following three research questions will be addressed:

• What are the key parameters regarding the demand of mineral recycling construction materials and how could the demand be modeled? (Demand)
• What type and amount of recycling construction material will be available from the Swiss civil and structural engineering stock, under different scenarios? (Supply)
• How could supply and demand be matched with a minimal ecological impact?

An integrative modeling approach will be developed combining an agent based decision model for the demand with a material flow model for the supply of recycling mineral construction materials (RMCM). This integration allows for the development and assessment of scenarios and strategies for an ecological construction material management.

First analysis shows that the demand for RMCM is determined by four interacting agent groups i.e. contractors, architects, engineers and awarding authorities. Their decisions are based on various internal (e.g. personal experience, image or social desirability) and external (e.g. material prices, law, norms and trends) decision parameters. The supply for RMCM is manly driven by the regional building and infrastructure stocks and their life cycles defined by the local construction, reconstruction and demolition rates.

The main influencing factors for the RMCM demand model (decision parameters) and supply model (building and infrastructure stocks and flows) both show spatial differences. Considering a combination of the two models highlights that their influencing factors are mutually dependent on two levels; on the individual level (e.g. personal experience depends on the utilized materials in construction) as well as on the regional level (e.g. RMCM prices depend on the local construction waste flows). The integrative modeling approach captures both the spatial variability of the main influencing factors and their interdependencies on the individual and regional level.

This approach allows to develop strategies how to deal with the large and increasing amounts of construction waste in Switzerland based on the individual stakeholder decisions as well as considering the regional differences. Furthermore, the model provides the basis for an ecological sustainability assessment of different recycling paths and application levels of RMCM.

The Project has started in 2006 with the diploma thesis “Agent based modeling (ABM) for analyzing demand for recycled mineral construction material” and was continued by the Ph.D. project.

This Ph.D. project is conduced jointly at the unit 'Social and Industrial Ecology at the University of Zürich and at the Institute of Systems sciences, Innovation and Sustainability Research (ISIS) at the University of Graz (supervised by Prof. Dr. Claudia Binder) and the Technology and Society Laboratory at the Empa (H.-J. Althaus).

Project duration: April 2007 to June 2010

Keywords: Integrative modeling, material flow analysis, agent based modeling, recycling mineral construction material, sustainable resource management.

Funding Sources

• Federal Roads Office FEDRO
•  Federal Office for the Environment FOEN
• Amt für Hochbauten der Stadt Zürich AHB
• Amt für Abfall, Wasser, Energie und Luft des Kantons Zürich AWEL
• Eberhard Recycling AG
• Forschungskommission FOKO EMPA

Contact: Christof Knoeri

Related Links

Related publications and presentations

Knoeri, C., Binder, C. R., & Althaus, H. (2008). Decision support and recommendations for a sustainable construction material management. Poster presented at the Industrial Ecology Conference, Colby-Sawyer College, New London, NH. (pdf)

Knoeri, C., Binder, C. R., & Althaus, H. (2007). Agent based modeling (ABM) for analyzing the demand for recycled mineral construction material. Paper presented at the LCM 2007, 3rd International Conference on Life Cycle Management Zurich. (pdf)

Knoeri, C. (2007). Agent based modeling (ABM) for analyzing demand for recycled mineral construction material Unpublished Diploma thesis, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology ETH, Zürich  (pdf: Full text en, Conclusion de)