URBAN MINING, Life-Cycle Balance of Recycled Products

The environmental impact of both production methods has been compared by a life cycle balance. The method of scarce resources by so called Environmental Impact Points, EIP, has been applied. This method has been developed by the ETH Zürich on behalf of the Federal Agency for Environmental Protection of Switzerland. It could be shown that with formulations that use an equally high content of cement, the environmental impact of the recycled product is only half as high as of the product from natural resources. To this positive result added also the recycling of steel contained in the concrete of deconstructed buildings. Finally, also the transport distances of the recycled product were shorter because the raw materials could be recycled and re-used close to the new construction site. Per cubic meter of concrete, 103,000 EIPs could be saved by the recycling of building materials that equals 330 kg of CO 2 saved.