Directive 2008/98/EC on waste (WFD) provides that, within 2020, the preparing for re-use and recycling of non-hazardous construction and demolition waste shall be increased to a minimum of 70% by weight. Beginning from a screening of the current percentage of reuse and recycling, type of recycling (types of waste and destinations) and incentive policies in Member States of European Union-28, the research aims to evaluate the effectiveness of the Directive and possible ways of improvement through a Life Cycle based approach. In this paper the incentive policies and some critical issues regarding current regulations are analysed. Further ways to improve legislation are proposed as well as guidelines, which would have an effect on a local level and are aimed at making the recycling of CDW management more effective and sustainable through Life Cycle Management.

This chapter shows the results of a study carried out on the application of circular economy principles throughout the building stock regeneration process, highlighting the challenges, the opportunities and several key themes for future research. The methodology of research is based on a literature review and on-field investigation through direct interviews with operators and stakeholders of the building value chain, on a European level. At first, the chapter shows the importance of applying the circular economy concept to the built environment and the crucial role of the building level. After that, the chapter looks into the parallel issue of the current necessity to renovate a large part of existing buildings. Consequently, the opportunities and the challenges in linking the circular economy to building stock regeneration are discussed. Secondly, the chapter identifies the strategies to support the transition towards a sustainable circular building regeneration process, identifying the policy improvements necessary to promote circular strategies during the building process, the strategic partnership useful to activate profitable and sustainable circular business, and the environmental and economic life-cycle assessment tools for supporting decisions and for verifying that the implementation of circular strategies is actually sustainable from an economic and environmental life cycle point of view.

The paper presents a part of research focused on the definition of circular economy models in the regeneration of existing building stock in the Italian context, identifying policies improvements, strategic partnership and environmental and economic life cycle assessment tools for supporting decision. Through direct-interviews to operators (investors, designers, manufacturers, etc.), the paper analyses the typical relationships and dynamics among them in the Italian building regeneration process. The operators' opinions and requests towards circular strategies (reuse/recycling at building and material levels) are pointed out, in order to highlight the obstacles and levers of circular economy application. The paper shows the strengths and the weaknesses for the regeneration of building stock by the application of circular economy, the opportunities and the threats for circular economy by its application in the regeneration of building stock. In order to achieve circular requalification processes, avoiding waste and enabling practices of reuse and recycling, the change of relationships, policies and business models are defined. Moreover, the paper discusses on the importance of environmental evaluation of circular practices, identifying the decision steps and operators which, with the support of environmental and economic life cycle assessment tools, can select circular strategies towards sustainable requalification process.

Enabling Technologies have the potential to transform both the physical flow of materials and resources (production and construction methods), and the intangible organisational and managerial relationships (exchange and monitoring of data and relationships along the entire chain of value). They should, therefore, be considered important in supporting change processes aimed at the circular use of resources. This paper presents some research and experiments, at European and Italian level, aimed at developing and applying Enabling Technologies for circular economy, and at aligning them with the needs and challenges of society, by directly involving actors of the building sector ecosystem in moments of discussion and co-creation to define potential strategies and operational actions for innovation in the sector.

European Member States are required to promote initiatives and programs to shift their traditional linear economy into circular economy. The paper shows the Italian initiatives towards circular economy in the built environment, across different application level (national and local) and different drivers (top-down and bottom-up). The method of investigation regards an on-field research based on direct dialogue with various stakeholders of construction sector in the national context. The results show the current barriers to circular material flows and the successful initiatives in Italy. Firstly, the top-down strategies are reported, as well as existing standards, national regulations and local policy. Secondly, the bottom-up strategies are shown, stressing the local stakeholders involvement. Based on the discussion, potential improvements are highlighted to align the current Italian initiatives with the broader European Commission circular economy objectives, considering also the best practices developed in other European countries.