The RE-MED project is a collaborative project between French, Italian, Tunisian, and Lebanese partners aiming to test the processes of recovery of construction and demolition wastes and their use in the construction and maintenance of roads.
The RE-MED project, coordinated by Cerema, a French public agency for developing public expertise in the fields of urban planning, regional cohesion, and ecological and energy transition, was launched on October 26, 2020. The project titled: “Application de l’innovation pour le développement de l’économie circulaire pour une construction durable en Méditerranée” (“Application of innovation for the development of circular economy for sustainable construction in the Mediterranean”) will facilitate the establishment of links between research, public, and private actors in the construction waste chain.
The project brings together nine partners from four countries, AUB being one of the Lebanese partners along with the Ministry of Environment and the Lebanese Contractors Syndicate for Public Works and Buildings. The aim of the project is to increase the use of recycled aggregates in road construction to reach 20 percent reuse on construction sites and to create a new market for construction and demolition wastes.
A Mediterranean cooperation project
The RE-MED project will support decisions on regulatory changes to develop the use of recycled aggregates. For that purpose, a normative framework will first be built to define the characteristics of the different recycled aggregates, their treatment, and the tests to be carried out, and a circular economy sector dedicated to the recovery of construction waste will be established.
The objective of the RE-MED project is to test and transfer technologies between partner countries on the treatment of construction and demolition (C&D) wastes and their reuse in the context of road maintenance or construction. The project outcomes will result in reducing the environmental impacts of construction as well as introducing new job opportunities to the market.
AUB’s work within the RE-MED project
The American University of Beirut brings its academic and scientific expertise to this multi-national collaboration to assist in fulfilling the objectives of the RE-MED project.
In specific, AUB is working along with the project partners on the following activities:
- Development of a comprehensive state-of-the art report on C&D waste management and recycling for use in roadway construction
- Analysis of the Lebanese local context and developing an action strategy
- Quality assurance and auditing for the experimental road section
- Development of a technical guide for C&D waste management in Lebanon as well as for the valuation of C&D waste in roadway engineering
- Assisting in the identification of needs and definition of functional specifications, indicators of environmental impacts, local geographic parameters, and social and economic parameters
- Participation in transfer workshops and field visits
- Development of C&D waste collection and management master plans, as well as macro and micro economic business models for the public sector
- Conducting trainings on the public policies relating to waste management in Lebanon, circular economy, and construction and demolition waste management
- Contributing to scientific publications
The AUB team consists of
Dr. Issam Srour, associate professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE); Boushra Barakat, PhD candidate, CEE department; and Antoinette Abou Jaoude, master’s student, CEE department.
Additional Project Details:
Program: Cross-border cooperation with Mediterranean countries in the framework of the European Neighborhood Instrument (ENI) ENI CBC MED
Budget: This project received funding from the European Union, ENI CBC Med program, education, research, technological development, and innovation, under grant agreement No 28/1682. The total budget of the project is €3,084,246.92, 90 percent of which is co-financed by the European Union.
Partners:
France: Cerema (project leader), Dynedoc
Italy: University of Palermo
Tunisia: Centre d'Essais et des Techniques de Construction (CETEC), Ministry of Local Affairs and Environment, Afrique Travaux
Lebanon: Ministry of Environment, Lebanese Union of Public Works Contractors, American University of Beirut
Associated partners:
Tunisia: Higher Institute of Water Sciences and Techniques of Gabés, National School of Engineers of Tunisia, National Institute of Standardization and Industrial Property.