CiMPla: Excavated soil in circular use – planning and decision processes to increase resource efficiency

It is urgent that Sweden increase the use of recycled rock and soil materials and at the same time decrease the transport impact from these flows. However, there are obstacles raised stopping the required change. The purpose of this project is therefore to identify and propose solutions that can overcome obstacles for circular management of excavated rock and soil in construction.

The obstacles raised stopping the required change to increase the use of recycled rock and soil material and at the same time decrease the impact of transport are:

1. lateness of action,
2. legislation, and
3. lack of information and digital data.

To develop sustainable circular solutions there is a need to understand which processes of planning, decision-making and action need to be coordinated to achieve as well as to understand the different actors, why they act in a certain way and when.

The aim is to develop an action plan for the different problem owners, public as well as private, and propose actions from a strategic level such as regional planning, local planning and jurisdiction down to an operational level such as classifications of materials, local development agreements and procurement with circularity in focus.

The project is rooted in the crossing of three different research areas:

• the logistics of excavated soils (part of construction and urban logistics),
• urban planning and policy, and
• soil mechanics/soil materials engineering.

The project group incorporates the entire value chain required to solve the problems related to achieving a circularity of excavated soil and rock materials.