Many industries are grappling with how to adapt their operations to a circular economy. The construction and real estate sector, which is responsible for around a fifth of Sweden's climate impact, is one of them.

However, this is not new to the sector; for example, a higher degree of re-use of building materials has been on the table for some time, but the way to get there has proved to be fraught with challenges.

"It is a question of both market and technical aspects. A fundamental parameter for enabling a transition is that there is demand. Otherwise it will be difficult to motivate investment in supply," says Pernilla Dahlman, Senior Business Advisor and Head of the Circular Business Lab at RISE.

However, there are clear signs that demand is emerging, not least thanks to regulatory drivers.

"For example, in the Climate Calculation Act for Buildings, reuse is becoming an enabler. "If you, as a building owner, use a higher proportion of recycled building products, this results in a lower climate impact in the climate calculation," says Johan Bergström, project manager for construction and real estate at RISE.

Fragmented market

Management and logistics also need to be developed in a more circular construction sector.

Johan Bergström notes that there are digital platforms that individually manage the inventory and sale of building materials.

"But the challenge is that it can be difficult for supply and demand actors to find each other. The market for reuse can be perceived as fragmented.

Another aspect that is obviously very important is the nature of the material itself. Is it really suitable for reuse?

"It can be difficult if the houses were not built with reuse in mind. But the most important thing is to ensure that the material meets the requirements - from chemical content and fire safety to U-values and strength," says Johan Bergström.

Defining quality criteria

Quality assurance therefore becomes an important parameter to increase the chances of reuse.

"When it comes to new products, there are clear rules for what applies, but it is often unclear what applies to reused material.

"It is therefore important to work on establishing standards and quality criteria," says Johan Bergström.

"At RISE, we have many years of experience in everything from material issues to reuse, as well as special expertise in circular business models. So we've managed to build up a good level of expertise on how we need to proceed in order to move forward," he says.

Potential in reuse

Pernilla Dahlman emphasises that there are clear benefits for companies that invest in adapting their operations to increase reuse.

"Those who start early and set up processes for taking back and remanufacturing products, for example, can often also link up with other suppliers' products, securing both access to materials and valuable customer relationships. From a pure brand perspective, this is of course also very beneficial," she says.

Johan Bergström believes that the best thing for a company in the industry is to start small.

"In the current situation, there is great potential to learn from each other, either through various pilot projects or by working together in business networks," he says.

"RISE has taken on the role of bringing together actors who are interested in increasing their focus on reuse," says Pernilla Dahlman.

"We have a rather unique role in this context, also thanks to our interdisciplinary expertise and solid testing activities. Through our various partnerships and cooperation forums, there are good opportunities for business development and exchange of experience," she says.

Lightweight, durable and corrosion resistant, aluminium is a material with endless possibilities and applications. Aluminium also has great recycling potential, which needs to be exploited given the energy-intensive production process.

"Recycling aluminium saves energy and reduces emissions, making it a sustainable alternative," says Johan Berglund, researcher and project manager for manufacturing processes at RISE.

Advanced sensor technology improves the recycling process

Although it is often said that aluminium can be recycled an unlimited number of times without its properties deteriorating, the reality is more complicated. Recycled aluminium is made from scrap - old products that have been melted down to be reused in new components. Although the aluminium itself does not change when it is melted down, the scrap can contain small amounts of impurities that affect the properties of the material.

"The aluminium recycling process must be kept as clean as possible so that different aluminium alloys are not mixed more than necessary. It is therefore important that the scrap is carefully sorted according to the properties of the aluminium alloys, which can be done with modern sensor technology," says Johan Berglund.

An effective way to recycle aluminium in a controlled way is to focus on a specific component of a specific alloy. A good example of this is companies that specialise in recycling aluminium wheels. Here the energy consumption is less than 1% of the energy required to produce new aluminium. It uses 100% post-consumer scrap, i.e. scrap from end users rather than industrial production.

Great potential for recycled aluminium

Another challenge with recycled aluminium is the contamination and undesirable substances that can increase as aluminium scrap circulates. For example, the iron content often increases, which reduces both the strength and corrosion resistance of aluminium.

"To address this, it is important to understand how recycled aluminium affects the properties of the material. It is therefore important to further develop methods for measuring and predicting the material's behaviour in different applications, something RISE is working hard on," says Anton Bjurenstedt, researcher at RISE.

Should we expect recycled aluminium to perform worse than virgin aluminium? Or is it possible to get material properties from recycled aluminium that meet expectations? The answer to this question can be found by comparing real test results with what is stated in the standards.

After a fatigue test on a die-cast component, it was concluded that the real life was 10 times longer than the calculated life.

"The result shows that there is more potential in recycled aluminium than what is stated in the standard or calculated. With good design and an optimised manufacturing process, there is potential to cast components that exceed expectations," says Anton Bjurenstedt.

Recycled aluminium – a necessity

Using more recycled aluminium is not only an option but a necessity in our quest for a sustainable and resilient future. Embracing this change will not only reduce the environmental footprint but also pave the way for a more efficient and prosperous aluminium industry.

RISE offers a wide range of services and expertise to help you as a manufacturer to transition to a more sustainable production.As an independent research institute, RISE can support you throughout the entire process, from idea to development of prototypes and testing to practical implementation in production. A collaboration with RISE can involve both direct support in the form of one-off interventions tailored to your specific needs or based on a partnership in a research and innovation project.

When plastic became popular in the 1950s and 60s, it quickly became a material that was both versatile and durable.

Today, plastic is recognised as one of the biggest environmental culprits. Waste enters and remains in the environment, causing pollution that harms wildlife and ecosystems - while the production of plastics causes high levels of greenhouse gas emissions.

Producing fibre-based packaging with Apple

Every year, according to the UNDP, the world produces 430 metric tonnes of plastic, a number that is expected to triple by 2060 if nothing changes, and at the same time leading to an increase in plastic pollution and greenhouse gas emissions.

Finding materials that can replace different types of plastic is therefore of high priority.

Producing fibre-based packaging with Apple

Apple, one of the world's largest companies, is working to make all of its packaging plastic-free. The tech giant has enlisted the help of RISE to develop a fibre-based material that can replace plastic.

"Together with Apple, we have developed a fibre-based foam. It has the potential to replace some of their packaging material.", says Bettina Mueller, senior project manager at RISE.

"Much of this is confidential, but I can say that we have made great progress, and I am very optimistic that this material will actually be used – and that we will be able to find even broader applications for it."

Similar process to traditional papermaking

The production of such fibre-based materials is essentially based on the methods developed for traditional papermaking.

"That is the starting point. The basic steps are then to add air and create a foam, which gives a three-dimensional structure rather than a flat paper material. Then you remove the water by dewatering and drying," says Claes Holmqvist, senior researcher in manufacturing processes for fibre-based materials at RISE.

The material could then be adapted for a wide range of applications.

"Once you find out how to make such a material, you can modify it and use it as insulation, upholstery in furniture, soundproofing in cars or filtration, for example," says Bettina Mueller.

In principle, wherever low-density plastics are used today, different types of fibre-based foams could be used instead.

Of course, the idea is not that these new fibre-based materials will end up in nature. But if they do, they will not cause the same damage as plastic.

Can be recycled like paper

"It works like paper, and paper is biodegradable. But the idea is that it should be recycled, just like paper, which also means that you don't have to use as much raw material when you produce it," says Claes Holmqvist.

The raw material in this case is the forest. The question is whether there will be enough forest if, in addition to all its other uses, it is to help replace plastic – will it be sustainable?

"We need to think intelligently about how we use these resources, where are they most beneficial? However, bio-based materials are definitely part of the solution to some of the problems we face. The cool thing about bio-based materials is that when you use resources like a tree or agricultural fibers, new ones can grow in the same place, ensuring sustainability" says Claes Holmqvist.

The transition from plastic to fibre-based materials is still in the early stages. More research and development is needed – and there are regulatory barriers, for example if the material is to be used as a building material.

Above all, however, the goal now is to reduce production costs.

"When plastic materials were new 60 years ago, they were not very inexpensive either. "It is not realistic to expect a new material to be completely equivalent and as inexpensive. You need to weigh the environmental benefits against the slightly higher costs to find a balanced approach," says Bettina Mueller.

Pilot biorefinery in Örnsköldsvik

RISE has a head start thanks to its unique understanding of the raw material - it has a long history of developing and creating new materials from wood. In the autumn of 2024, RISE will also open a new pilot biorefinery in Örnsköldsvik.

"We have the technical knowledge, but there are other things to consider when developing new materials. We mentioned sustainability and regulatory issues. We can easily bring in experts in these areas because RISE is interdisciplinary. This means that we can support the whole chain and gain a system perspective," says Claes Holmqvist.