Circularity in production process as a tool to reduce energy, environmental impacts and operational cost: The case of insulation materials

The production of construction materials accounts for significant quantities of raw materials and significant amount of energy. Construction materials contribute to sustainable building management and that is something that has been presented by many studies. Their environmental impact have to be determined based on raw materials' input, the production process followed and the energy sources used. To quantify the environmental impact there are a lot of methodologies to follow. The ongoing challenges in economy and environment lead to new methodologies in order to evaluate and improve the global competitiveness towards sustainability. In that sense, in 2015, the European Commission adopted an ambitious Circular Economy Action Plan. Circular economy is a methodology aiming at efficient resources management, as well as waste management at the end of products' life. Calculations made trying to show in practice the way that increase of the recycling material used as an input material to the production process, of at least 25%, showed that the material circularity indicator can be increased to almost 0,5 decreasing the linear flow indicator for the system studied. Increased material circularity indicator means more closed loops, less linear flows, decrease of the raw materials used. Circular economy targets to minimizing waste, environmental impact, resources use towards sustainability and economic efficiency.