GENTRÆ (REEWOOD)
Published on 04 March 2021
Denmark
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About this good practice
The construction sector generates almost half of the world’s waste. At the same time, there is a shortage of raw materials, which makes the building sector dependent on circular economy for a sustainable future. However, using reused building materials is not a possibility for contractors, as reused materials are not available in large-scale retail sale. This is why, in 2019 Solum A/S (a Danish waste management company) has together with Stark (the largest building material supplier in the Nordics) and Golder (an environmental consultant), in close co-operation with five of the market leading contractors developed GENTRÆ, a concept which ensures that timber from temporary construction measures can be sold in Danish building markets as a real alternative to new timber products. Without GENTRÆ up to 50.000 tons of timber would in Denmark yearly be disposed of by incineration. Every ton of construction timber reuse, saves a total of 45 kg of CO2-eq. By making reused building materials available alongside conventional building materials, they become an attractive and natural choice for constructors and craftsmen, thereby contributing to a paradigm shift towards increased circularity in the building sector. By branding and introducing this first reused building material in large-scale retail sale, we have gained documented knowledge of the cost, quantity, quality, logistics, market and legislation of a reused product, thereby paving the way for other reused building materials.
Resources needed
Project phase: 1 mio DKK was granted by the Circular Construction Challenge for the development of the prototype, data collection and documentation. Handling cost were mainly covered by the income from collection and sales of materials and self-financing of the hours dedicated by project partners
Evidence of success
GENTRÆ was in February 2019 selected as the winner of the Circular Construction Challenge by Realdania, a Danish association. The Circular Construction Challenge addressed the global problem of waste overload, mass consumption and increasing resource use and called for innovators to help solve the problem by reducing waste in the built environment. In October 2019 the GENTRÆ concept was presented at the annual ISWA conference in Bilbao, Spain. see video:https://solum.dk/case-stories.html
Potential for learning or transfer
Reuse has the highest priority in the European waste hierarchy. However, reuse (action or practice of using an item, whether for its original purpose), does only, in a very few cases, exist in large scale. GENTRÆ is a simply, easily understandable concept and circular business model, which has been successfully built with co-operation across the value chain, making a real difference, with possibilities of expansion.
Good practice owner
You can contact the good practice owner below for more detailed information.
Organisation
Solum a/s
Denmark
Sjælland