| Popis: |
Reducing GHG emissions without reducing living standards implies recirculating materials rather than discarding or downcycling them: in particular, the emissions associated with the four major bulk materials (steel, cement, plastics and aluminium) are around two-thirds of the entire industrial emissions. This study examines, through a series of expert interviews, how digitalisation, both through provenance systems and analysis tools for sorting discarded materials, could improve circularity in Europe. It finds that whilst there is a large and sudden interest from construction companies and the automotive sector in using recycled materials due to self-imposed low-carbon targets, almost nothing digital is being developed for recirculating either steel or cement. The exception is Business Information Modelling which could assist building or material reuse in second lives, some 15-40 years into the future. For plastics, on-pack provenance systems could be implemented in the short-term, but this depends on cross-supply chain cooperation which is generally lacking. Only for aluminium is there the prospect of substantial near-term improvement, where the introduction of Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy could greatly reduce the downcycling of wrought aluminium into cast grades, potentially eliminating a forecast surplus of cast aluminium by 2030. |
