Drawing on its formulation expertise, Holcim’s Innovation Center has developed a first-of-its-kind concrete in which all components—cement, aggregates and water—are made of recycled materials. Built with this unique recycled concrete solution, Recygénie represents a breakthrough in circular construction. The building will be a 220-unit housing complex, including 70 social housing units, located outside Paris. Construction is currently underway, with completion expected in Q4 2024.
Edelio Bermejo, Head of Global R&D: “We need to shift gears: from a linear “take-make-waste” economy to a circular one, to improve living standards for all while staying within our planet’s limits. The development of the world’s first fully recycled concrete in this social housing project marks a major milestone for us, as we want to make circular construction accessible to all as the norm and not the exception. I am proud to put this innovation to work in the Recygénie project, making sustainable housing accessible to all.”
The Recygénie project builds on the world’s first 100% recycled clinker produced by Holcim in June 2022. This clinker was used to produce a fully recycled cement for use in the Recygénie concrete, saving approximately 3,000 tons of natural resources that would have been extracted from quarries. The concrete is made exclusively with recycled aggregates from construction and demolition waste (CDW), recycled wastewater and rainwater. Overall, the concrete saved more than 6,000 tons of natural resources. Starting in Europe, Holcim will replicate the development of fully recycled concrete across its markets, adapting the solution to local building norms and material availability.
Across all metropolitan areas where it operates, Holcim is at the forefront of driving circular construction, recycling CDW into new building solutions. Holcim launched the world’s first cement with 20% recycled CDW inside in Switzerland and is working to scale this solution up across Europe to build new from the old. A world leader in recycling, Holcim recycled 34 million tons of materials in 2022, from plastics to minerals, converting them into new building solutions and alternative fuels. CDW accounted for nearly 7 million tons.
