This news has been updated with the information regarding the project results on August 27, 2025. The news was originally published on 27 November 2024.
The recycling and recovery of construction and demolition waste (RAPUA) was a project included in the Oulu Ecosystem Agreement and especially in strategic focus area 3. Sustainable circular economy and clean solutions, focusing on recycling and reuse of concrete fractions. The project carried out a comprehensive study of the circulation of the fraction from the demolition site to a new product, reporting on the related measures.
The amount of concrete waste from building demolition in Finland is over 10Mt annually. This is mainly used as base material of roads. As producing concrete creates a lot of emissions, this project was looking for new and more valuable ways of reusing and recycling concrete waste.
Crushing the concrete creates different fractions with different potential uses. The fine fraction was chosen to be studied and the properties were studied in laboratory to evaluate which product could be replaced with the new solution. With close collaboration with the industry, the scenarios for producing functional product from the fines were created. The possibility to make substituting materials were found to be environmentally friendly but difficult to get economically viable
The project was led by University of Oulu and other partners were OAMK, OSAO and VTT. The project started in September 2023 and ended in June 2025. The project was funded by the European Union, Pohjois-Pohjanmaan liitto and the City of Oulu.
More information:
Tiina Vainio-Kaila, senior scientist, VTT
[email protected], +358 401367945
Read more about the project by clicking here.
