Cradle to Cradle: Recycling at Xella
For Xella, the circular economy is of enormous importance. The motivation for this are the legal framework conditions of the EU as well as the environmental aspect and the economic factor. The core of the circular economy is the Cradle to Cradle concept.
Cradle to Cradle (C2C) is a design concept based on nature. This means that products are developed according to the principle of a closed and potentially infinite cycle economy, without producing waste. "In this respect, C2C differs significantly from conventional building material recycling: According to statistics, although approx. 90 percent of mineral construction waste in Germany was recycled in 2018, it was mostly in the form of one-off downcycling in road construction," explains Dr. Oliver Kreft, responsible for recycling management at Xella Technologie- und Forschungsgesellschaft mbH.
Xella offers the possibility of collecting waste cuttings from the construction site in special Big Bags and returning them to the supplier. These remnants are returned in broken form as secondary raw material to the ongoing production of autoclaved aerated concrete. These resources are conserved. In addition, Xella has set itself the task of developing an even more far-reaching recycling concept in which even autoclaved aerated concrete obtained from demolition and dismantling is reused to produce autoclaved aerated concrete.
For this reason, Xella was the first building material manufacturer ever to receive a Cradle to Cradle® certificate for Ytong Energy+ as early as 2011. Logically, the two components of Ytong Energy+ – Ytong and Multipor – are also C2C certified.
Learn more about the circular economy and the Cradle to Cradle concept at Xella in the video by Dr. Kreft:
Ytong Energy+ is in demand for construction projects in many countries. This is mainly due to its product properties: The Ytong Energy+ combines the load-bearing outer wall and insulation in one and the same building block. These sustainable solutions not only simplify the design and construction process, but also enable a lower CO2 balance and contribute to a good indoor climate in the finished house.
In Denmark, for example, single-family homes are being built with Ytong Energy+, but entire housing estates with up to 90 low-energy houses are also being built from it. In addition, special containers are set up on construction sites to collect Energy+ product residues so that they can be returned to the production cycle – like our Big Bag system.
More about Xella Technologie- und Forschungsgesellschaft mbH.
More about the Cradle to Cradle certificate.
The Cradle to Cradle certificate is limited in time, and was awarded to Xella at the time of the publication of the text. It has expired in the meantime.