The incineration of biomass, municipal solid waste and sewage sludge produces significant quantities of ashes in the EU: approximately 25 million tons annually. These residues have currently no use or they are utilized only in low-value applications. Major problems with the use of incineration residues in the construction, water treatment, and other industries are insufficient public awareness of the safety and environmental acceptability of the final products , the lack of uniform regulations, and readiness of the market to accept incineration residues as a supplementary material. The project AshCycle will demonstrate and implement industry-urban symbioses revolving around the underutilized ashes to reach circular and climate neutral economy in Europe. Pilots and replication demonstrations will be carried out in Denmark, Finland, Belgium, The Netherlands, Croatia, Slovenia, Switzerland, and South Africa. The symbioses will include all major actors from the value chains, namely ash providers, ash beneficiation handlers, concrete and adsorbent product providers, as well as engagement of general public. AshCycle answers unmet socio-economic demands, facilitates emerging ash-based circular products for market entry and to unlocks benefits for society by acceptance of new circular concepts.

The overall objective of CIRCUIT is to develop a holistic approach supported by digital solutions and guidelines to foster the introduction of innovative engineering practices in the whole construction supply/value chain to foster The overall objective of CIRCUIT is to develop a holistic approach supported by digital solutions and guidelines to foster the introduction of innovative engineering practices in the whole construction supply/value chain enabling circular, sustainable resilient and smart transport infrastructure and a wider deployment of Green Public and Innovation Procurement. This will be achieved by: i. developing and deploying an innovative open-source digital platform (with advanced Circularity analytics and Supply/value chain matchmaking tools) interoperable with traditional engineering/design (BIM, Digital Twinm LCC, LCA) and traffic simulation tools; ii. introducing modular solutions, ecodesign and reusing concepts as alternative to traditional designs; iii. maximizing the use of biobased, Secondary Raw Materials (SRM) and Secondary Construction Elements (SCE) as alternative to traditional ones; iv. including in the decision making process of transport infrastructures design and route planning, information from updated traffic simulation tools to reduce incidents, accidents, congestion and future scenarios with autonomous vehicles). New elements and technologies for Circular, Smart, Resilient and Sustainable transport will be included in the design process to facilitate infrastructures upgrading and a quick adaptation to smart mobility and operations. CIRCUIT will also provide knowledge and technical solutions by exploiting the potential of four strategic pillars: Digitalisation, Recycle, Reuse and Energy. Different technologies will be validated in each of the pillars to deliver a holistic approach suitable for different transport modes, the urban and interurban environment, and the different stages of the life cycle of infrastructures.