VINCI companies are increasingly looking into reuse. As no new materials or waste are produced, this solution is the most beneficial to the environment. VINCI Construction launched several initiatives in 2021 in materials reuse systems. For example, ten types of materials were reused and recycled on the MGEN worksite located on the esplanade above Paris-Montparnasse station, preventing 100 tonnes of waste. As they gain in expertise and visibility, resale marketplaces also play a role in shifting practices towards reuse as a method of waste treatment. More than 500 sets of metal shelves from the site of the Ministry of Culture’s Bons-Enfants building were sold on resale platforms. On Réunion, VINCI Construction Dom-Tom is also developing the reuse of demolition materials with a second-hand materials market open to the public and the opening of a materials library.
As a founding member of CircoLab®, VINCI Construction France continues to work with this organisation, focused on educating stakeholders about waste recovery. CircoLab aims to promote reuse in the property industry, encourage synergies, foster stakeholder engagement and tighten regulations. The CircoLab® label was launched in 2021, providing programme managers with standards to support them in developing their reuse initiatives, compiling reuse experience and defining a framework for measuring the qualitative and quantitative performance of reuse for property development projects. The label features five levels of performance, and all types of buildings are eligible.
VINCI Energies companies are also developing actions to reduce waste: the German firms recycle construction waste for use as Class I recycled construction materials and the Swedish ones go to great lengths to reuse excavated material directly on construction sites using specially designed machines.
Reuse is becoming standard practice in the Group’s property development businesses. The emblematic Universeine project has set two reuse requirements: 75% of materials used for the structures to be delivered in the first phase in 2024 must be dismantled, reused or recycled after the project, and at least 10% of materials collected as a result of the reversibility work, in terms of mass, must come from reuse. To meet these requirements, teams identified which items were in adequate supply and compatible with standards (especially noise insulation and fire safety). Several categories of materials for indoor and outdoor use were chosen. On the Îlot Saint-Germain project in the 7th arrondissement of Paris, a resource assessment determined which materials could likely be reused, leading to the resale of parquet flooring, light fixtures, plumbing fittings and radiators.
VINCI’s construction businesses continue to roll out waste recycling actions, setting targets for each project and type of waste, searching for appropriate facilities, identifying solutions to improve sorting, etc. For example, as part of energy renovation projects for Maine et Loire Habitat, VINCI Construction France set up a mobile waste collection centre on worksites and planned for weekly collection of sorted waste. The initiative improved waste traceability and enabled the reuse of hot water tanks, with no sorting errors. Apart from better sorting practices, improving on-site waste recovery also requires partnerships. VINCI Construction France achieved a recycling rate of more than 85% on the prisoner rehabilitation and integration assistance facility project in Coulaines in west-central France by asking its suppliers, service providers and local organisations to recover and recycle scrap materials, such as polystyrene, metals and wooden pallets. Another partnership example involves the site of the future swimming pool in Saint-Denis, where Cardem (Eurovia) teamed up with SPL, a Eurovia subsidiary that recycles and sells road materials, and batiRIM®, a digital selective building demolition solution. The building’s finishing works were mapped out to meet the target of recycling or reusing 100% of the excavation material from the site. Approximately 90,000 tonnes of excavated material were collected and delivered to the appropriate recovery facilities.
Innovative projects developed through Leonard, VINCI’s innovation and foresight platform, include Waste Marketplace, a digital solution for managing worksite waste. Not only can this tool be used to coordinate faster and more efficient vehicle collection, Waste Marketplace also supports companies in implementing custom solutions to handle special waste and improve recovery rates. It achieves this through a network of waste treatment specialists and industrial users of secondary raw materials, by adapting containers to waste streams and guaranteeing waste traceability. Another spin-off from Leonard’s intrapreneurship programme is La Ressourcerie du BTP, a marketplace used to promote the reuse of materials collected from demolition sites, which includes a professional integration component. La Ressourcerie du BTP offers reused materials, equipment, and even site surpluses, to avoid disposing of them. The digital tool launched in April 2021 traces all these streams, and all waste supplies from La Ressourcerie du BTP can be found online. Among the projects on the marketplace is one at the demolition site of the former prison in Le Havre where, in partnership with Cardem (Eurovia) in particular, a team of workers on integration programmes removed the materials before cleaning and packaging them. This prevented 36 tonnes of waste from this project going to landfill, and within one month, 50% of the materials were resold.
At VINCI Energies, companies are moving into the refurbished products market, promoting repair as an alternative to buying new equipment, and therefore extending the equipment’s useful life. As such, many companies collect equipment from customers having preferred new products. Components are then reconditioned and the equipment reused.
