Re-manufacturing and re-use practices for extending the value of short-life building components

Tertiary buildings are characterized by quick cycles of renewal and reconfiguration of interior spaces, determining fast functional obsolescence and frequent reshaping activities. Hence, the majority of tertiary sector waste consists of products characterized by high residual value. Aiming at making the most of the potential unexploited useful life of building elements – according to a circular economy perspective – the present paper introduces re-manufacturing, recondition, re-use and repurpose as winning strategies for reducing tertiary sector waste and extending the lifecycle of products. In this perspective, the contribution shows the key results of two experimentations conducted within the project “Re-NetTA (Re-manufacturing Networks for Tertiary Architectures). New organizational models and tools for re-manufacturing and re-using short life components coming from tertiary buildings renewal”. The experimentations focus on the development and testing of new circular organizational models for extending the lifecycle of short-term products, through the active involvement of key stakeholders of the sector. Afterward, an overview of the main challenges and opportunities for the application of virtuous circular processes within building sector is outlined, together with the definition of “enabling” conditions for the spreading of circular practices in the construction sector, referring to product design, information traceability and value-chain.