Circular economy: the CTICM puts its reference framework online for the reuse of steel structural elements

These recommendations now make it possible to define a procedure for requalifying reused steel structural elements ensuring that the reused materials have the same essential properties as a new material. This benchmark is very meaningful for the CTICM, and more broadly for the entire steel sector, which thus intends to provide a promising solution for the development of the circular economy in construction while reducing the consumption of natural resources and CO2 emissions. .

A first in France which meets current regulations and standards

According to an ADEME study, construction materials, although they are mostly reusable, are currently only reused in France at 1%. The development of this standard, allowing users to integrate the reuse product into a manufacturing process that complies with current standards, should contribute to increasing this ratio to 5%, thus meeting the criteria of the REP PMCB[1].

The professional recommendations formulated by the CTICM and brought together within this framework also meet the obligations laid down by the AGEC law (law no. 2020-105, of February 10, 2020) which sets the legal framework for the reuse and repurposing of products. and components resulting from deconstruction and aims to transform the linear economy system into a virtuous circular economic system. The reuse of materials, in this case steel, is also part of the trajectory of the Environmental Regulations (RE 2020) which considers that components (construction products or equipment) resulting from reuse or a reuse operation , have no environmental impact.

This standard, which acts as a precursor in its field, was accepted at the beginning of the year by the Product Prevention Commission (C2P) of the Construction Quality Agency. It meets numerous standards and legislative obligations and will thus facilitate the requalification of steel materials to encourage their reuse on new sites and thus comply with the NF EN 1090-2 standard which makes the use of high quality products possible. steel structure not covered by European standards provided that all the essential properties of these products are defined and guaranteed. The use of reuse products for structural applications is possible within the European and French normative framework and can be integrated into the manufacturing process. However, it is essential that the essential properties of these products are determined and guaranteed.

This is the very essence of these recommendations which allow the requalification of steel materials and their reinjection into the construction chain. These reuse products requalified in accordance with the recommendations will be automatically insurable.

For Amor Ben Larbi, project coordinator and director of Research Projects at CTICM: “Steel components and products lend themselves well to reuse and reuse, particularly due to the intrinsic qualities of the material. Our framework will allow companies in the partner sector of this approach, once certified and trained by the CTICM, to requalify the steels themselves and provide performance certificates. The CTICM, for its part, will carry out an annual audit of these companies to ensure that they are still able to certify the reusability of materials. »

Find the repository online here.

[1] Extended producer responsibility for building construction products and materials