EcoUp took second place in the Helsinki City’s Circular Economy Cluster innovation challenge. In the challenge there was an aim to find new possibilities to use demolition waste as an ingredient in concrete recipes and products.
EcoUp took part of the innovation challenge on 28th of October in 2022, where a solution was sought for the utilization of demolition waste as a substitute for cement and to reduce emissions from concrete production. Finland’s biggest concrete industry operators and Circular Economy Group EcoUp Oyj participated in the challenge.
Cement is one of the biggest emitters of greenhouse gas emissions due to its large amount of use and its manufacturing process. The role of the construction industry in combating climate change and reducing the use of natural resources is crucial. The industry is constantly looking for new ways to reduce both emissions and material consumption, and with the new innovations there will be global significance e.g., reducing the use of cement.
Several years of work in the background
EcoUp has been working with waste-based binders for several years. In the city hall of Helsinki, an imposing department for final products cast made from recycled concrete was erected. EcoUp also introduced a new product designed during the cluster program called Cubeco and it will be sought to be the first commercial product for a waste-based binder.
Cubeco is a modular building block that can be used to build functional urban environments with a smaller climate load. Mineral wool waste, which ends up in a landfill and is hard-to-dispose, is used as its core material. About 300 litres of demolition wool have been used to cast one block. Also, of its multi-purpose, Cubeco answers the final disposal problem of wool waste. The carbon footprint of the block is up to 80 % smaller than a block cast from virgin cement.
EcoUp took shared second place in the challenge, and we gained a lot of new contacts and wonderful opportunities for cooperation from the event. Thanks to the City of Helsinki and the Circular Economy Cluster for organizing the event, it was a wonderful day!
