In the afternoon of May 20, “Construction Waste Recycling and Resource Utilization Forum” was held in Building A. Professor WANG Hongwei, Deputy Dean of SEM, delivered the opening speech on behalf of the School. Professor LIU Guangfu acted as the moderator of the forum, and more than 20 experts and scholars from the government, enterprises and research institutes participated in the forum, including Director LIU Fuchun of the Environmental Sanitation Management Department of the Shanghai Greening and Amenities Administration, Chief Engineer XU Yaling of the Urban Construction Materials of the Tunnel Company, and Professor LI Yang of the Shanghai Academy of Building Science.

The forum focused on the various aspects of construction waste management, recycling and disposal, and the experts presented insights on the social needs, current situation, key challenges and system solutions for resource utilization.

Deputy Dean WANG Hongwei firstly expressed his warm welcome to the experts, scholars and enterprise representatives who came to the conference. He pointed out that the recycling and resource utilisation of construction waste is a very specific area in the national strategy to realise the dual-carbon strategy, and there are still many confusions, which need to be solved through the integration of industry and education. The forum provided an opportunity for academics, business and politicians to fully communicate together, and it is expected that the School of Economics and Management of Tongji University can better contribute to the sustainable development of the nation.

WANG Yunfei, Vice President of Shanghai Liangyan Environmental Protection Technology Development Co., Ltd, talked about the current situation of construction waste in China, and also pointed out that the existing construction waste low-value utilization products in China have low strength and tenacity and other indicators of recycled products, limited application scenarios, and less actual market use.Then WANG Yunfei introduced microbial slow release technology implanted in the bricks to achieve high value use of construction waste in the form of river slope bricks and river bottom bricks with porous structure, and said that microbial technology is the future direction of technology development for construction waste recycling and resourceful use.

SHI Qingyan, Senior Engineer of Shanghai Environmental Sanitation Engineering Design Institute Co., Ltd. focused on the resource utilization of renovation waste, and gave an in-depth analysis of the characteristics of renovation waste, resource technology, product utilization direction and policy protection. In the light of the project example, the quality control measures for incoming raw materials of “access standards + source management + non-compliance handling” are proposed, and a systematic standard system for renovation waste re-use products is called for in terms of “product application, testing and inspection, quality control, safety and information technology”.

Professor LI Yang of the Shanghai Municipal Research Institute of Building Science Co., Ltd. discusses the new ways of resource utilization of renovation and demolition waste, which is facing the current situation of fluctuating quality and performance of recycled aggregates, a single way of utilization and a large gap in consumption. He proposed a new way of resource utilisation of fluid filling materials, which can effectively reduce disposal costs. He suggested the use of “1 aggregate hopper + 2 bulk silos + feeding spout” as a complete system to achieve production, and the need to support reuse enterprises at the management level in the future.

Professor LI Yang of the Shanghai Municipal Research Institute of Building Science Co., Ltd. discusses the new ways of resource utilization of renovation and demolition waste, which is facing the current situation of fluctuating quality and performance of recycled aggregates, a single way of utilization and a large gap in consumption. He proposed a new way of resource utilisation of fluid filling materials, which can effectively reduce disposal costs. He suggested the use of “1 aggregate hopper + 2 bulk silos + feeding spout” as a complete system to achieve production, and the need to support reuse enterprises at the management level in the future.

XU Yaling, Chief Engineer of TCTC, based on the background of “waste-free city” construction in Shanghai, made the following discussion. Firstly, she discussed the development path of the construction industry in the context of the “3R” principle and “Reduce, Resource, Harmless”. Secondly, the connotation of “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle” in circular economy in the construction industry is explained, and the practice in actual engineering projects is introduced. As the circular economy becomes the future economic development model, the economy and society tend to develop towards “industrialisation, informatisation and digitalisation”, which will bring revolutionary changes to the construction industry. XU believes that in the context of “reduce, resource and harmless” and circular economy development, technological innovation, standard systems and laws and regulations will play a significant role in coupling the development of the construction industry with the construction of a waste-free city in Shanghai.

Engineer SHI Haoyu from Nanjing Environment Group introduced Nanjing’s construction waste resource utilization process and technology around the actual projects the company is currently undertaking. Through the understanding of the actual projects and technologies, the experts on site had a deep understanding of the construction waste resourceisation path in Nanjing and showed a strong interest in the fluid solid soil technology.

In the expert seminar held after the presentation, Director LIU Fuchun and other experts discussed the development path and improvement direction of construction waste resource utilization in all aspects, from construction waste collection and transportation to disposal, equipment to products in Shanghai, and made suggestions and countermeasures for the development of construction waste resource utilization industry.