EQAR president Miroslav Škopán says that, in terms of volume, construction and demolition waste is the largest waste stream in the EU.
"It represents about one third of the total waste generated and at the same time it is a valuable resource from which high quality construction materials can be obtained," Škopán adds.
Projects that have already been submitted for this year's awards include university seminar projects on single-variety deconstruction and new processing technologies for excavated soil and demolition material.
EQAR says that the European Commission, through the Green Deal and the Circular Economy Action Plan, has recognised the potential of recycling and is providing a new appreciation for the use of recycled building materials.
The association says that to achieve this, however, the recycling of building materials in Europe must be expanded and promoted to a much greater extent.
EQAR has therefore been promoting personalities, companies, associations and universities for their commitment, innovations or outstanding recycling projects with the EQAR Award for years.
The arv Baustoffrecycling Schweiz association was nominated for first place in the 2020 edition of the award competition with its ARVIS 4.0 project.
The arv succeeded in designing and introducing a uniform and integrated system for harmonising the control criteria for the inspection of sorting and processing plants of, for example, construction waste and waste wood in Switzerland, combined with a harmonization of the Swiss standard for the recording of waste streams.
Project manager Laurent Audergon says that the ARVIS 4.0 IT system serves, on the one hand, the arv inspectorate and the cantonal authorities to interpret the enormous flows of construction, demolition and excavation waste, as well as to record the resulting products of stationary sorting and processing plants. EQAR adds that this will make a significant contribution to increasing the acceptance, quality and economic efficiency of recycled construction materials, which can serve as a model for Europe.
The 2020 prize, worth €1,000, was originally to be awarded at a ceremony at the EQAR Congress in the fall of 2020. However, due to a pandemic, this event had to be postponed, so that the presentation of the certificate took place during an EQAR video conference on May 26, 2021.
