From the construction site back into the cycle

From the construction site back into the cycle: How to turn left-over pipe into valuable recycling material

From the construction site back into the cycle: How to turn left-over pipe into valuable recycling material

Going one step further than the market requirements. Lisa Schmidt, Product Manager at our REHAU Building Solutions Division, and her team have succeeded in doing just that. Within just a few months, they have jointly launched a concept for returning residual pipe quantities in Germany. In close coordination with the sales department and the customers, a process was created that makes it possible to feed residual quantities and deconstruction material back into the cycle.

The AWADUKT PP sewer pipe system is used by many municipalities and civil engineering companies to feed wastewater into the sewer system safely and without contamination. While the product's durability means it will remain in use for 100 years or more, most of the residual waste generated during installation has not yet been recycled. "What is usually construction waste is now reprocessed as a valuable resource through the returns concept," explains Lisa Schmidt.

Left-over pipe is turned into recycled material

With PreZero, they were able to gain a renowned environmental service provider as a cooperation partner. "Our take-back system for residual pipe and demolition material not only contributes to greater sustainability in civil engineering, it also provides meaningful added value for our customers directly on the construction site," Lisa explains. This is because the civil engineering company doesn't need to worry about the cut pipe ends, short lengths and sections that can no longer be used. In the future, as envisaged in the concept, PreZero will collect the unused pipe sections, which are still A1 quality goods made of polypropylene, directly from the construction site on behalf of REHAU to process them as recycled material instead of incinerating them.

Rethinking civil engineering

The customer doesn't incur any costs for transport or disposal. "That's a critical factor in motivating them to use the concept," says Lisa, who modestly describes her approach as a "tentative first step." "In the civil engineering sector, recycling still isn't as popular as in the window sector, for example, but a change in thinking is taking place. Our take-back concept shows that it can work," says the project manager. It is also proving successful: While the concept is still going through its final phase at the end of 2022, 12 crates will be collected from the first customer and returned to the material cycle.

"It takes courage and perseverance to achieve sustainable goals,but if you don't start and give it a go, you won't achieve anything."

Lisa Schmidt, project manager at Water Infrastructure, Erlangen, Germany

Thank you very much for the insights!

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