A grant from MUDP and a series of strong partners allow us to start developing a concept that will help clean used bricks at scale.
Every time you demolish an old building, there’s the potential to recycle a lot of perfectly good bricks. In fact, they’re often highly prized for their patina and high quality. At the same time, the construction industry is currently being hit by a lot of demands for more sustainability, and recycled bricks are a valuable component.
The need to effectively recycle bricks will increase in the coming years. Some bricks are already being recycled, but only on a small scale, as the process is only semi-automatic and can only clean some types of stone. This is especially true for stones from buildings older than 1950: a cement-based mortar is then used, which is harder than the stones. This means that they can only be cleaned manually and incredibly inefficiently.
That’s why we have now received funding from the Environmental Technology Development and Demonstration Programme under the Ministry of the Environment (MUDP) to develop an industrialised, fully automated process that can handle all types of stone.
Early project with strong partners
With this project, we will develop an industrialised purification plant where you put chunks of bricks from the construction site into one end and get cleaned bricks out on pallets at the other end. All automated.
MUDP has supported the pre-project, where we will study the business and environmental effects and make simple prototypes of the system.
We are developing the solution with a strong circle of partners, including ReTec Mljø and Ranlev Elektronik, as well as a number of large demolition companies such as Søndergaard Nedrivning and J.Jensen.
The goal is to get to the point where used stone is cheaper than new stone – then we win on price, aesthetics and the environment. If we succeed in doing so, the potential is huge!
About MUDP:
The Environmental Technology Development and Demonstration Programme (MUDP) under the Ministry of the Environment provides grants for the development of new environmental technology for the benefit of the climate and environment. The programme is managed by an independent board that decides which projects will receive grants.