Towards a circular building industry through digitalisation: Exploring how digital technologies can help narrow, slow, close, and regenerate the loops in social housing practice

This thesis explores the integration of Circular Economy (CE) principles of narrow, slow, close, and regenerate in the social housing practice through digital technologies. Beginning with the examination of the CE implementation in Dutch social housing organisations, the research extends its focus to the broader built environment, introducing...

Assessing the Data Exchange of Material Passports between Key Stakeholders

A material passport (MP) is a digital document which aims to track the circular potential of building materials. It is seen as a key enabler for a circular economy (CE) in the building sector. The construction industry is one of the most resource-intensive industries which produces massive amounts of construction and demolition waste (CDW)....

Data requirements and availabilities for material passports: A digitally enabled framework for improving the circularity of existing buildings

Passports for circularity, e.g., digital product passports and material passports (MPs), have gained recognition as essential policy instruments for the Circular Economy goals of the European Union. Despite the growing number of approaches, there is a lack of knowledge about the data requirements and availabilities to create MPs for existing...

A material passport as a means to support the circular transition?: –“The proof of the pudding is in the eating”–

The construction industry (CI) has to transition towards a circular economy (CE) before 2050 to achieve the ambition of our Dutch government. Within the CI there is an information gap leading to suboptimal recycling and reuse of materials and products. Capturing and sharing this information in a digital tool will be critical for the construction...

The Product Circularity Data Sheet: A Standardized Digital Fingerprint for Circular Economy Data about Products

Background. Laws that enable a circular economy (CE) are being enacted globally, but reliable standardized and digitized CE data about products is scarce, and many CE platforms have differing exclusive formats. In response to these challenges, the Ministry of The Economy of Luxembourg launched the Circularity Dataset Standardization Initiative...

Blockchain for Circularity: Hyperledger Fabric-based Material Passport Framework

The Linear Economy currently follows the Take - Make – Dispose model. This paradigm is based on the consumption of resources rather than the preservation of their value. If this model remains dominant, it will lead to material scarcity, thereby increasing materials prices. The linear economy has a negative effect on nature as this model creates...

Investigating Responsibility arrangements for Project Delivery Methods to retain optimal Re-use value

The European Union’s incentives to make a shift from a linear towards a circular economy has pushed researchers to come up with tools that will facilitate this transition. A material passport is a digital tool that stores data regarding general information, the composition of the material and its properties. The passport is deemed as active at...

Design for repurposing of composite products

With the emerging demand for energy-efficient products, the composite material has become a point of attraction for many product manufacturers. Furthermore, with its high strength to weight ratio, long life span, low maintenance and design flexibility, composite materials offer tailored properties by choosing an appropriate combination of...

Digital Solutions for a Circular Facade Economy: A conceptual framework for a Facade's Product Passport to Facilitate decision making at its End of Service(EoS)

In the Dutch government attempting to become fully circular 2050, VMRG, a Dutch Metal Façade Association, has initiated several pilot projects. Two of the most prominent ones are Cirlinq, an asset management platform for documenting building facades, and FaSA (Façade Service Applicate), a collective of stakeholders aiming to use drones and image...