Every time Russian forces shell Ukrainian cities and villages, the question arises of how to rescue people once the situation calms down, and what to do with the massive amount of debris resulting from the destruction of buildings. Is it possible to turn this problem into an opportunity to transform construction, demolition, and destruction waste into a resource that can be used in new construction projects? To discuss this topic, the Ukrainian Crisis Media Center hosted a roundtable featuring Olena Koltyk, Head of the Ukraine Support Team (UST); Nataliia Kozlovska, Deputy Minister of Community and Territorial Development of Ukraine; and Anastasiia Bilograd, Director of the CEMARK Technical Hub Research and Development Center in Ukraine.
This issue is unique to Ukraine. The European Union’s regulatory framework is based on a classic planned approach, where there is a clear understanding of the processes involved, which entities are responsible for what, how sorting takes place, and how recycling proceeds thereafter.
“When we talk about waste from demolition, the term ‘planning’ cannot be applied at all, because there is no predictability in this context, and it is simply impossible to apply classic approaches to building demolition,” emphasized Natalia Kozlovska.
Nevertheless, the emergency response phase to situations such as those that arose following the de-occupation of the Kyiv, Chernihiv, and Kharkiv regions is now behind Ukraine, and today the government has adopted a decision that regulates, in turn, the decisions of local authorities regarding how sorting is carried out, how waste is cleared of explosive substances, and how landfills are established.
And here a direct parallel arises with the obligations Ukraine is undertaking as it moves toward the EU.
“We all understand that the issue of the significant presence of asbestos on Ukrainian territory is quite substantial, and we certainly do not want to turn absolutely all waste processing or potential waste utilization sites into sites with a high asbestos content. This is precisely an issue that concerns, in general, the principles of pre-sorting and separation, because separation is indeed important—it involves both hazardous and explosive materials—and, accordingly, this facilitates future processing and reuse. “This is precisely the point of lively debate, because approaches to waste reuse vary significantly across European Union countries,” noted the Deputy Minister of Community and Territorial Development of Ukraine.
As the areas designated for the disposal of such waste shrink, the issue of recycling is becoming increasingly pressing. This, in turn, may become a subject of heightened interest for the construction industry. However, this is not yet a systematic trend. Some experimental technologies are being applied at the local level, while others are under careful study.
“Quality is a combination of certain properties, namely strength and ductility when it comes to concrete, as well as operational reliability, and it is these properties that we focus on when researching materials. We need to understand how durable these buildings and structures will be, how they will perform under various operating conditions, and how well they will withstand the loads specified in the design,” explained Anastasia Belograd.
It takes a very long time to collect enough results for a statistically valid sample so that they are representative, and researchers can assert that the series of tests has indeed shown that the durability parameters will be met.
“Thanks to the communities of Kharkiv and Mykolaiv, we have received a substantial amount of recycled material from the crushing plant, and for nearly a year we have been studying this material, investigating it as a raw material for concrete, as well as for cement production, since Ukraine has already adopted a standard allowing cement made with recycled construction waste to be sold on the market. That is why we are conducting a comprehensive study, and the preliminary results are quite optimistic,” said the director of the CEMARK Technical Hub research and development center’s branch in Ukraine.
We were able to learn how these new technologies work in practice during a live broadcast from the regions. Dmytro Cheychuk, Deputy Mayor of Bucha, and Vitalii Shevchenko, Director of the municipal enterprise “Operational Linear Management of Roads” of the Mykolaiv City Council, spoke about how waste from demolition sites is being utilized.
“We have excavation work being done on the water utility’s pipelines and the networks of the Mykolaiv Heat and Power Supply Company, and when they dig up and lay their pipelines at great depths, it’s possible to use screenings instead of sand to backfill the section they’re reburying. In other words, they remove the clay and backfill it with screenings—specifically the fine fraction. It is this screenings material that we produce the most of in our recycling process. We also had two other projects we really wanted to try. These involved using this raw material in asphalt concrete mix and in concrete mix. It’s possible to use it for sidewalks, but this material isn’t suitable for roads. However, we use it for sub-base material on dirt roads in the private sector. This is what’s known as white asphalt. It works quite well,” Vitalii Shevchenko shared his experience.
At the state level, Ukraine is working closely with Japan, which has a systematic policy regarding demolition waste.
“We are working with the Japanese government and with JICA, which is quite actively promoting its experience in Ukraine regarding how this is done. But at the same time, given that we are moving toward implementing legislation in line with European Union requirements, we need to incorporate all standards related to waste management safety requirements into the legislation that exists in European Union countries,” emphasized Natalia Kozlovska.
The participants in the discussion also addressed environmental issues. Olena Koltyk noted that the European Union has specific funding programs for environmental projects, and it would be very beneficial if Ukraine could establish a similar program for such cases or for the construction of certain government projects, where a certain percentage of recycled materials could be used in the structures. This is essentially an opportunity to raise funds for specific projects more cheaply and profitably.
“We need to launch pilot projects in the country so that we realize: yes, we can do this; we know how; we’re capable. Business—go ahead, compete with each other, process, and sell these recycled materials. I really hope that in some time we’ll meet here again and will already have projects and results,” added the head of the Ukraine Support Team (UST).”
The expert discussion “Waste from Destruction: Can’t Be Destroyed, Must Be Used” took place as part of the project “European Integration: Simple Explanations of Complex Issues” with financial support from the International Renaissance Foundation
Source: UCMC
