Focus on backfilling

Seminar on “Improving
management of construction and
demolition waste”

25 May 2016, Brussels

Geert Cuperus

25.03.2015 www.fir-recycling.com
About
• Established 1991
• Aim: promote the high
Fédération Internationale quality recycling of
du Recyclage C&DW and IBA
• Through EU
involvement, exchange
Division of expertise in and
Division Incinerator Bottom
C&DW dissemination outside
Ash
the association
Belgium, Germany, Spain, Italy, The Netherlands, Sweden, Finland
• Our industry contributes
France, Greece, Turkey to Circular Economy for
more than 30 years
Backfilling as waste treatment option
• Filling of quarries • Embankments
• Filling of mines • Coastal work
• Road construction
• Must be genuine need • ………………
• And environmentally safe
 Construction works, nothing to
do with backfilling
Construction, not backfilling

Embankment

Road construction
A = fill
O = raise or embankment
Levelling F = base layer
V = Top layer
D = Deck
Landscaping, where backfilling becomes
disposal
• Landscaping is too undefined
• Which waste?! If environmental
characteristics are unknown it’s
worse than landfilling
• If it’s a true need, there must be
requirements.
• ….which can only be fulfilled by
construction products
What is “suitable” waste?
• It must meet requirements for the specific application
• Use must be environmentally safe

It is impossible to characterise the environmental quality of

untreated C&DW
Inert C&DW must have undergone waste acceptance and crushing
Mixed C&DW can not perform any function at all

Unless it’s a monostream, C&DW must be treated before backfilling

 Hazardous Not for
Concrete
waste backfilling

Roads

Demolition Inert waste Crushing Embankments

Backfilling

Not for direct

Mixed waste use
………

Sorting Here to
account for
70% target
By the way
• Who actually needs a definition of backfilling??
• The activity is already covered by current definitions (recovery) and
recovery operations (R11)
• Not covered by annex: direct use of waste to fill up quarries or mines
• Introduce Rx for these operations
• For C&DW this is irrelevant because:
• Excavated soil is excluded from the definition
• Only inert C&DW can be used and must first be processed
Summary
• Backfilling applies only to quarries and mines
• There is no other hole to “fill back”
• When anything else is to be filled, it must have a reason and there must be
requirements for material to be used
• So it’s construction
• Landscaping offers the way out for environmentally unsafe options
• Inert C&DW can only be used for filling and construction after processing
• Mixed waste can not be a material for backfilling
• The route for backfilling goes via recycling, so count the recycling for the
target