The first International Conference on Circular Economy for the Construction Sector is held in Lagoa in the Azores on the 16th and 17th of March. The conference finalizes the Rebuild 17 project which ReSource International has participated in since 2019. Around 115 people are attending the conference. The conference organizers say it‘s very rare that an event in the Azores attracts this many people from the continent.
Hafliði Eiríkur Guðmundsson, environmental consultant at ReSource is in Lagoa. He will make a presentation at the conference, acquaint himself with circular economy and waste management projects in the Azores and Portugal, and share ReSource‘s experience on the topic and on related projects in Iceland. Today, on the 15th of March, he visited Musami, the waste management company run by the municipalities on the island of Sao Miguel. He was given a tour of the gas collection system in Ponta Delgada‘s landfill, which is used to generate electricity. He visited the offices of CIMPA. Staff members Raquel Galante and Rogério Medeiros showed him novel materials which they‘ve developed from local resources, such as banana fibres, basalt, pineapple fibres and various wastes. CIMPA is also developing concrete which could reduce the cost of heating and cooling buildings.
Rebuild 17 is a collaboration between ReSource, LREC, a civil engineering research facility in the Azores, and CIMPA, a company which specializes in materials science research. The goal of Rebuild is to maximize the utilization of construction and demolition waste (CDW) in the Azores by using the circular economy concept. The project is funded by EEA Grants, a fund which aims to increase collaboration between EU and EFTA countries in various fields.
More information on the EEA Grant and the conference can be found here.
