Research Shows Recycled Powders Can Cut Cement CO₂ by 35%
New research published in the Materiales de Construcción Journal details a method for replacing up to 48% of cement with recycled powders from brick, glass, and concrete. The resulting material achieves a compressive strength greater than 50 MPa while reducing associated CO₂ emissions by 35%, offering a promising path for decarbonizing construction.
- The Dutch government's National Programme for a Circular Economy (NPCE) 2023-2030 is steering the transition, with the construction sector being a primary focus. An updated National Program for a circular economy has set a new goal to cut raw material use by 15 percent by 2035, replacing an earlier, less comprehensive target. However, the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency (PBL) has noted that government funding for circular initiatives is set to decline after 2025, creating a potential gap between ambition and resources. - In September 2025, a group of thirteen influential institutional real estate managers and housing associations, managing over €60 billion in assets, committed to binding CO₂ limits for material-related emissions in new housing projects. This initiative focuses on smarter construction, including the decarbonization of concrete, circular building practices like designing for disassembly, and increasing the use of biobased materials such as timber. - Digital Material Passports are gaining significant traction, with tax incentives like the Environmental Investment Rebate (MIA) and the Arbitrary Depreciation of Environmental Investments (Vamil) encouraging their adoption. These passports document all materials within a building, providing crucial data for future reuse and recycling. The government is also exploring making material passports mandatory for new constructions. - Municipalities are increasingly leveraging Digital Twins for urban planning and climate adaptation. In Utrecht, a comprehensive Digital Twin models everything from buildings to underground infrastructure, enabling planners to test climate adaptation scenarios and speeding up decision-making on infrastructure projects by 30%. Similarly, Amsterdam's 3D Amsterdam platform is used by architects and developers to visualize and plan projects within a virtual model of the city. - The new Environmental and Planning Act (*Omgevingswet*), which came into effect in 2024, consolidates and tightens environmental laws, impacting housing construction. This legislation requires developers to consider a wider range of environmental factors, including soil quality and biodiversity, adding complexity to permitting processes but also pushing for more integrated, sustainable design solutions. - Amsterdam is a key frontrunner in municipal-level circular construction policy. As of 2025, the city mandates that at least 20% of all new housing construction must use timber or other bio-based materials. This is part of a broader strategy that includes using circular procurement as a tool to stimulate innovation and demand for reusable materials from the market. - The Ministry of Housing and Spatial Planning is actively involved in promoting sustainable construction through various initiatives. This includes the development of an AI-based tool, the Smart Building Transformation Identifier (SBTI), to help municipalities identify non-residential buildings suitable for transformation into housing, thereby saving materials and reducing emissions. The ministry also emphasizes aligning national and EU-level policies to better support the circular economy in the built environment. - Despite ambitious national targets for a fully circular economy by 2050, the Dutch construction sector faces significant challenges. A 2022 Circularity Gap Report noted that while a high volume of construction waste is recycled, it is often downcycled into lower-value applications like road fill rather than being high-quality reuse of components in new buildings. This highlights a critical area for innovation in circular construction techniques.
