Title: Analysing the circular economy opportunities in the French construction sector related to the sustainable supply chain: a waste input-output analysis

Authors: Jean Pierre Doussoulin; Mariana Bittencourt

Addresses: Research Center for Management (LAREQUOI), University of Paris-Saclay, 47 Bld Vauban 78047 Guyancourt, France ' Research Center for Management (LAREQUOI), University of Paris-Saclay, 47 Bld Vauban 78047 Guyancourt, France

Abstract: The construction sector has long recognised the decisive role of the various phases of the building lifecycle in the global environment. The identification of the construction environmental impacts is a significant progress for the development of a sustainable supply chain related to the raw material consumption and the construction and demolition waste (C&DW) generation. In this sense, circular economics' principles have solid potential to address these challenges in all European Union countries and especially in France. Nowadays, input-output (I/O) modelling covers the analysis of waste generation (WIO). As the supply chain of the building construction process is complex and has several related activities, and in a preliminary moment a conceptual model was developed, this approach provided an assessment of the mitigation actions of C&DW generation in France. This evaluation shows some positive waste reduction of several materials in the construction process, especially in concrete, metal, rock/rubble and sand/soil. However, the same study exhibits that even materials that can be recycled in the construction process, e.g., concrete, plastic, and metal, might not have a positive waste reduction during demolition due to the lack of proper waste separation and contamination during the process.

Keywords: circular economy; construction sector; input-output analysis; waste; recycling; reuse; supply chain; sustainability.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSCOR.2018.090769

International Journal of Supply Chain and Operations Resilience, 2018 Vol.3 No.2, pp.143 - 162

Received: 18 Jul 2017
Accepted: 31 Oct 2017
Published online: 27 Mar 2018 *

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