The sustainability of buildings is the driver of ME 2023

A key event for the building community, ME 2023 represents an opportunity to give space to the discussion on products, ideas and solutions capable of consolidating a new philosophy of building, which limits the consumption of resources and contributes to the energy transition.

According to ISPRA's 2022 Special Waste Report, the construction sector contributes significantly to the overall production of special waste, with a percentage equal to 45.1% of the total, corresponding to 66.2 million tons. A percentage ranging from 5 to 12% of total emissions is the estimated greenhouse gas emissions produced in Italy by the extraction of materials and the construction and renovation of buildings.

In our country, the recovery rate of construction waste, estimated by government bodies, stood at 77.9% in 2020 (well above the 70% set by Directive 2008/98/EC for 2020).

There are many critical issues that emerge in this area, including a poor development of the market for secondary raw materials, which favors the accumulation of these materials, and the distrust towards recycled products, even if they are CE marked, to which is added a regulatory framework that is not always easy to interpret. But, starting next December, it will be possible to rely on the new Minimum Environmental Criteria (CAM).

In this sense, their introduction aims to promote the circular economy and makes it possible to spread environmental technologies and green products, creating a path of sustainable development of construction and construction and renovation processes, a path of which ME — MADE Expo will witness and star by hosting institutions, stakeholders and companies called to dialogue and identify appropriate strategies on these topics at the Fair in Milan.

On December 4, the decree relating to the Minimum Environmental Criteria (CAM) for design and building works will come into force, the result of the collaboration between the Italian Standardization Body and the Ministry of Ecological Transition.

The new CAMs have been drafted as part of the 'Action Plan for the environmental sustainability of public administration consumption'.

The CAMs are based on the principles of the circular economy and on sustainable development models, in alignment with the most recent Community guidelines. The objective is to allow contracting agencies to reduce the environmental impacts generated by works for the maintenance, renovation and construction of public buildings and the management of related construction sites

Promoting the circular economy in the construction sector is also a priority consistent with the twelfth objective of the 2030 agenda, according to which it is necessary to guarantee sustainable consumption and production models, reducing the amount of waste produced and developing methodologies that allow the increase of recycling, also in order to minimize emissions into the atmosphere.

Improving waste management, focusing on sustainable alternatives such as recovery (recycling and reuse), can significantly affect the circular economy of the construction sector, a strategic hub for sustainability in Italy as elsewhere.

The circular economy is an opportunity to seize for the future of our country, but it is equally necessary to promote a reengineering of processes, try to solve the problems that hinder the development of new sustainable strategies, define the drivers that can guide the environmental change and develop a more structured industry, able to support the expansion of the sector by adhering to the required fees and capable of making the most of the large investments allocated with the PNRR.

AT ME — MADE Expo 2023 it will be possible to discuss these topics, highlight the products and solutions that follow innovation from a green perspective and initiate the synergies useful to overcome the sustainability challenge

Fonte