Construction material flows play a major role in urban metabolism, being the second flow after water in terms of mass. In Ile-de-France (Paris region), construction wastes amount round 30 million tons (2010) whereas municipal wastes (domestic and domestic-like wastes) amount 5.6 million tons (2005). The increase in construction minerals consumption from the 1970s onwards is responsible for environmental problems that are critical today: local resource depletion, increasing transportation distance, lack of space for waste storage, ecosystem degradation. These problems are all the more worrying so since the “Nouveau Grand Paris” policy aims at developing Paris metropolis.
Adopting an urban mining approach, the project aims at analysing construction materials flows and stocks in order to estimate future recycling possibilities, taking also into account urban development projects. This will allow creating connections between the waste sector and the urban development activity.
Research team
UMR Géographie-Cités (Sabine Barles, Vincent Augiseau)
Coordination : Sabine Barles