Last Friday, the Flemish Minister for Environment, Nature and Agriculture, Koen Van den Heuvel, launched Green Deal Circulair Bouwen at Batibouw, at the initiative of Vlaanderen Circulair, OVAM and the Vlaamse Confederatie Bouw. Through this joint commitment, construction companies - including Democo - together with 230 other participating public and private organizations will work to make circular construction in Flanders a daily reality in the future.

The construction sector has an important impact on the total use of materials in Flanders: around 30 to 40% of our waste comes from construction. The way in which we build and live also has a major impact on our carbon footprint. Due to the size of the sector and the total volume of materials, a joint change towards a more circular economy can really make a difference. Democo is of course happy to do its part - showing our climate commitment, not only in words, but in concrete actions!

What does this deal mean? The aim is to contribute to the objective of achieving a circular economy in which resource cycles are closed in Flanders by 2050, by focusing on reuse, a maximum high-quality recycling of building materials, change-oriented building, optimal use of space and extending the lifespan of buildings and their materials.

We’re engaging in this innovative learning network to share practical experiences with other construction companies, building material producers, local and regional authorities, private builders, researchers and other organizations. We’ll be setting up experiments together until 2023 to test the circular principles in practice and identify current hurdles.