SUBSTITUTING RAW MATERIALS WITH WASTE FOR NEW ECO-SUSTAINABLE BUILDING PRODUCTS (ECOTILES)

One of the fundamental challenges for a sustainable future is to minimize the environmental footprint associated with industrial processes. This moves towards a circular economy, which requires a conversion of the waste derived from productive processes into secondary raw materials with the aim of decreasing the exploitation of georesources, and also minimizing CO₂emissions and the overall impact on the environment.

Funded by the European Union under the LIFE program “Environment” (www.LIFE-ECOTILES.eu), the study is focused on the topic “Waste” dealing with the achievement of EU 2020 goals on Waste and Resource Efficiency for a smart, inclusive and sustainable economy. LIFE ECOTILES is a pre-industrial research project aiming to create new building products mainly using waste. The project has been carried out in collaboration with an industrial partner, leader in the production of cement-based tiles, traditionally made with a combination of cement, a choice of marble/limestone/granite aggregate and pigments.

The study demonstrated the possibility to produce fully recycled (up to about 75%) pre-casted cement-based products (terrazzo-tiles) using a variety of urban or industrial waste materials: recycled glass, ceramic scraps, Construction & Demolition Waste (CDW). Compared to the traditional terrazzo-tiles the production and testing of the “ecotiles” showed a decrease of about 20% of the environmental impact relative to the industrial process, still maintaining the technical performances and achieving the manufacture of high-grade products. The positive results have been useful also for increasing the interest in the possibilities offered by eco-innovations among the general public, policy-makers and European industry. In fact, a wider awareness about the environmental and economic advantages of innovations such as “ecotiles” contributes to improve the understanding and consciousness for the need of a more responsible development of industry and society, in which the Geosciences must play an active role by finding how to use the Earth resources in a sustainable manner while minimizing impacts on the environment.