Re-Manufacturing Best Practices and Transferable Criteria for the Construction Sector

Re-manufacturing and Re-use represent nowadays hot topics in various sectors - such as Aerospace, Automotive, Electronics, Machinery, Marine, Rail - that have already exploited their potential gaining multiple benefits in terms of environmental, social and economic sustainability. These practices are significantly growing in such sectors, gaining market share, creating new jobs and sharing experiences and knowledge by creating networks and associations (e.g. European Re-manufacturing Network, Conseil Européen de Remanufacture, ReuseIt Network - RIN, Remanufacturing Industries Council - RIC, Centre for Remanufacturing & Re-use - CRR, etc.). However, the construction sector is affected only to a small extend by these practices, although their application nowadays represents a shared priority at European level. Indeed, the EuropeanCommission identifies the construction sector as a ‘Priority area’ which has specific challenges in the context of circular economy: according to Eurostat, construction sector produces over a third of the total waste generated by all economic activities and households, it provides 18 million direct jobs and it contributes to about 9% of the EU’s GDP. In this context, the paper introduces the main preliminary results of the research project "Re-NetTA (Re-manufacturing Networks for Tertiary Architectures). New organizational models and tools for remanufacturing and re-using short life components coming from tertiary buildings renewal" developed at Politecnico di Milano and funded by Fondazione Cariplo. It aims to create the organizational and business conditions for activating regenerative circular processes in the field of transformation/redevelopment of buildings. In particular, it is focused on the tertiary sector which is characterized by short-term cycles of renewals with the purpose to extend the useful life of components and materials reducing the production of waste. The paper identifies a set of key features of organizational and business models based on re-manufacturing practices derived from other sectors and it verifies their transferability to the construction sector for a subsequent definition of replicable re-manufacturing models. To this end, a multidisciplinary and cross-sectoral methodological approach is implemented involving various disciplines and scientific areas, such as Technology of Architecture and Building construction, Management and Industrial Engineering, Industrial Design and Communication, Sustainable Design and Ecodesign. These results represent the first crucial step to activate regenerative circular processes in the construction sector, contributing to maintain over time the value of the environmental and economic resources integrated into building components.