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Circular Economy in the Construction Sector in Brussels: State of the art, challenges and model to come

The Brussels-Capital Region has set up the Regional Circular Economy Program (2016-2020) in order to transform environmental issues into economic opportunities, to relocate the economy to Brussels and to increase the well-being of its inhabitants including passing through the job. This ambitious program aims to transform the current economic model, called linear (extract, produce, consume, discard) into a so-called circular model, where the concept of waste no longer exists.
The construction sector in Brussels consumes a lot of resources and produces a lot of waste. Being also a big provider of local jobs, it seems to be the ideal starting point to set up such a model transition. The first part of this study defines the principles of a circular economy and shows how these can be applied to the construction sector. These foundations are then supplemented by an analysis of incoming and outgoing construction material flows at the regional level in order to estimate the economic potential of their re-circularization. Based on these results, a circular economy model for the construction sector is developed and broken down into nine stages illustrated with real examples at the local and international levels. The implications for the building and its actors are underlined. The second part of this study reviews the work begun with stakeholders in the construction sector on defining a clear and shared vision of the circular economy in the Brussels Capital Region and the regional objectives to be achieved. The many actions proposed during these enriching exchanges are exposed.

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