(ANSAmed) - TUNIS, OCTOBER 28 - Turning waste from construction and demolition (C&D) to build and maintain roads in Mediterranean countries is the objective of the Re-Med project which involves Italy, Tunisia, France and Lebanon. The project was launched in a videoconference attended by various project managers and representatives of Mediterranean and European media. This project, called ''Implementation of innovation for the development of the circular economy for sustainable construction in the Mediterranean'' is part of the largest European program of transborder cooperation with Mediterranean countries and it is supervised by the Center for Studies and Expertise on Risk, Environment, Mobility and Planning (Cerema), for a period of 30 months, from October 2020 until March 2023. ''The Re-Med project has a budget of 3.1 million euros, 90% of which is funded by the EU and stems from the need to reduce the environmental and health impact due to the failure in managing waste from construction and demolition'', the project's partners said. ''Re-Med uses technological transfer (TT) to transform C&D waste into resources for the construction and maintenance of roads''. The challenge for this TT is to start building a recycling chain for C&D waste and use it for the social, environmental and digital transition of Mediterranean territories, they added. The project vies to support the ministries of the environment of Tunisia and Lebanon to modify legislation and use at least 20% of recycled components to build roads. With the support of Cerema, the project will implement structured training, tools to support decisions (methodological guidelines, business models, a platform to share data, calculations of the environmental impact, standard drafts) and tests of new technologies (BIM, 3D models of surveys on road damage). It will also gather research entities (universities, technical centers), small and medium-sized companies and industries (construction and public works enterprises, caves, etc.). Companies operating in C&D waste will also be involved (production, selection, treatment and recovery). The objective is to support TT in territories of the Mediterranean to recuperate waste from construction sites and boost its use in road construction. This will be realized by integrating at least 30% of recycled material during the transfer and the promotion of recycling practices which will develop a new market. Re-Med will allow the construction of three plants for the production of aggregated waste from C&D, two of which will be in Tunisia and one in Lebanon, and local jobs will be created, said the project's coordinator Oumaya Marzouk. Marzouk added that ''these structures could be sustainable constructions and should be built from caves that aim to follow a sustainable and circular production method, local authorities and companies managing waste''. The project also provides for the realization of a 1-km-long pilot road, an online platform Re-Med Community to share know-how. The proposal of four draft laws and a patent.
Several institutions and departments in target countries are collaborating on the project. They are the University of Palermo, the Tunisian ministry for local affairs and the environment, the construction center Afrique Travaux, the Lebanese environment ministry, the Lebanese union of public works contractors and the American University in Beirut. Associated partners include the Superior institute of science and technology of water in Gabes, the National engineering school of Tunisia and the National institute of standardization and industrial property. (ANSAmed) (ANSA).
