The LORVER strategy: giving value to abandoned resources and brownfields

By project TANIA

Published on 21 December 2018

France

About this good practice

This practice is an integrated approach to the rehabilitation, sustainable management and reuse of degraded lands. It is based on a chain of processes aimed at obtaining value from land and by-products (e.g. wastes) without any current interest. The chain was tested and developed thanks to funding from the Région Grand Est and European Union (ERDF) and from the expertise acquired over the years in the Région Grand Est on the administrative, technological and scientific aspects of brownfield management. It involves industrial partners, public institutions, and academic partners and is aimed at managing degraded sites to produce biomass of industrial interest (e.g. energy, fiber, recovery of metals), while improving the quality of the ecosystem. This good practice is based on a toolbox of soil and water treatment technologies (e.g. ex situ and in situ chemical oxidation or bioremediation, soil construction, and phytoremediation), which are assembled in a whole chain-value of processes aimed at securing the sites and providing the largest number of ecosystem services. New functional ecosystems are thus designed to provide a large range of ecosystem services linked to vegetated areas (e.g. biomass production, biodiversity, C storage, mitigation of residual pollution). Overall, the strategy contributes to the protection of environmental bodies and human health, and the provision of services to meet the major global challenges (e.g. biodiversity).

Expert opinion

Brownfield redevelopment is an important aspect of urban regeneration in the European Union and various policies and initiatives have been developed to address this issue, such as the Waste Framework Directive and the Soil Framework Directive. Many deindustrialising European regions have an abundance of brownfields with numerous problems and would benefit from this good practice. The LORVER strategy, which stands for "Land, Organization, Resources, Value, and Environment Recovery," focuses on revitalizing abandoned resources and brownfields. This approach is aimed at transforming underutilized or contaminated land into productive spaces, which can lead to economic development and community improvement. The practice could be of interest to European regions with brownfields which would like to them for providing various ecosystem services in biodiversity, biomass production and carbon storage. Regions can also explore the financial model involving ERDF funds.

Astrid Severin

Works at Interreg Europe Policy Learning Platform

Resources needed

The LORVER strategy was tested at field scale during a five-year R&D project (5 M€), involving industrial and academic partners and the administration. It was proved feasible and profitable and its implementation requires available materials for soil construction (e.g. by-products).

Evidence of success

This strategy is now being implemented in several areas in France, with a strong focus on site reclamation, and development of ecosystem services. Site owners are now considering this approach as a relevant way for large sites, which are not under the city and industrial development pressure. With regard to ecosystem services, e.g. biodiversity, the LORVER strategy helps to improve the situation by taking advantage of available territories.

Potential for learning or transfer

A guide is under writing to disseminate the strategy for implementation at large scale. The practice can be implemented for commercial purposes. It can be quite easily transferred provided appropriate partners are selected and all steps of the chain are carefully considered. As it is aimed at improving a series of ecosystem services, considering only biomass production would not be sufficient. Important services such as biodiversity should be put at the first place. Also, technologies should be optimized and adapted to the various situations that can be met. It is necessary to ensure the best assemblages, i.e. the technologies which are compatible with each other for the best efficacy of the chain. The practice received positive feedback from the political actors, the private sector and the site managers. However, since the solution introduces new ways to manage polluted sites, regulations are not always adapted to this solution which promotes natural attenuation.