Valobat and Afpa sign a partnership to sustainably embed the circular economy in the building trades

On Thursday, November 6, the two parties signed a five-year partnership agreement aimed at training building professionals in the principles of Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) for Building Construction Products and Materials (BCPM). Their shared ambition: to sustainably integrate the circular economy into the heart of the construction and renovation trades.

Supporting the skills development of tomorrow's building professionals

Valobat will train approximately thirty Sector Training Engineers and Regional Training Engineers in the building sector within the Afpa network. These engineers will benefit from a training toolkit developed by Valobat, which includes training materials, guides, and technical resources.

Afpa will be developing building trades training programs. Trained engineers will update professional standards, integrating the principles of Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) for building materials at each qualification level. Training paths will be enriched with modules dedicated to waste prevention, sorting, recycling, and reuse of materials.

This large-scale program involves over 830 construction industry trainers from Afpa, who will in turn support nearly 61.000 full-time equivalent (FTE) trainees. It covers almost 90 professional qualifications in the construction sector, offered in 114 Afpa centers across France.

To actively participate in the ecological transition of territories

As part of its national public service missions, Afpa has been working for several years to improve the skills of building professionals, progressively integrating sustainability issues into its professional standards for the Ministry of Labour and Solidarity.

According to Christophe Sadok, Director of Engineering and Innovation at Afpa: “This partnership is fully aligned with our public service mission: to anticipate the skills needed for the sustainable construction of tomorrow. By integrating the principles of the circular economy into the heart of our training programs, we are preparing building professionals to meet environmental challenges and support the transformation of the sector.”

Thanks to this partnership, engineers trained by Valobat will pass on their skills, promoting the spread of sustainable practices on construction sites and the reuse of materials, to reduce the environmental impact across the entire territory.

According to Hervé de Maistre, President of Valobat: “The construction industry generates nearly 22 million tons of waste each year (source: ADEME). This is a colossal challenge, but also a tremendous opportunity to accelerate the sector's ecological transition. At Valobat, we are doing everything we can to increase the reuse, sorting, and recovery of waste. The momentum is building: in the first ten months of 2025, the volumes collected and processed through our network of collection points reached nearly 2,3 million tons, compared to 1,1 million tons for the entire year of 2024. This growth demonstrates a genuine commitment to sorting by those working in the construction sector. Training construction professionals in Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) for PMCB (Public-Private Partnership) is essential for bringing about lasting changes in practices on construction sites. Together with the French National Agency for Adult Vocational Training (Afpa), we are making this skills development a concrete driver of the circular economy.” With over 4.000 collection points deployed and a constantly expanding network, we are strengthening every link in the chain to make sorting and recycling a given on all construction sites.