The RE-MED project deals with innovation for the development of circular economy for sustainable construction in the Mediterranean. As part of the project, the Executive Technical Committee (ETC) had a meeting to evaluate the current progress of RE-MED and to outline the program of future developments.

This was the second meeting of the ETC and it has been organised by Prof. Laura Inzerillo and Prof. Gaetano Di Mino, the scientific supervisors of the project at the University of Palermo (UNIPA, italian partners), the project supervisor, Dr. Oumaya Marzouk, Director of Circular Economy Projects for Cerema, the French National Agency for the Climate and the Territories of Tomorrow, has also been closely involved in the organisation of this event.

The event was held in Palermo at the Department of Engineering (UNIPA) on the 28 and 29 of March 2022, and brought together the expertise of the project’s partners. The ETC included representatives of the partnership, in addition to those already mentioned; UNIPA and Cerema :

• Dynedoc collaborative platform (France)
• Centre d'Essai et des Tecniques de Construction - CETEC (Tunisia)
• Ministère de l'Environnement (Tunisia)
• The Ministry of the Environment (Lebanon)
• Syndacat Libanais des Entrepreneurs des Travaux Publics (Lebanon)
• The American University of Beirut - AUB (Lebanon)

The main points under discussion were:

• the construction of a plant for the recycling of aggregates from the demolition of civil buildings in Tunisia, this plant will facilitate the inclusion of these recycled aggregates in the production of materials for road use;
• the construction of an experimental road section in Tunisia which will later be opened to the public: this section will be made with a high contribution of recycled materials and properly equipped for real-time monitoring;
• the development of the digital platform RE-MED Community, to serve the advancement of the project during its implementation and which will be open, in the future, to all those who wish to promote circular economy in the construction sector from both a scientific and professional standpoint;
• the creation of a smartphone application aimed at participating communities and stakeholders who want to promote, stimulate and improve the systematic recycling of waste from the demolition of civil and industrial construction (Construction and Demolition Waste - C&Dw);
• the progress of the research activities, and of the related dissemination of the results at international conferences and in publications in scientific journals;
• the progress of the training activities through which seminars will be organized in Tunisia and Lebanon in order to train stakeholders on the use of recycled materials from demolition waste in civil construction and in particular in the road infrastructure sector.
• The current state of progress regarding the activities surrounding the dissemination and diffusion of the results which have already been obtained through the project’s research activities.

The event concluded by two technical visits, firstly to the “Laboratorio di Strade, Ferrovie ed Aeroporti di UNIPA” (The University of Palermo’s Road, Rail, and Airport Research Laboratory)  and to Ericina Costruzioni s.r.l’s Construction and Demolition Waste Recycling Plant in Trapani.

The Rector of the University of Palermo, Prof. Massimo Midiri, and the Director of the Department of Engineering Prof. Antonino Valenza, were present at the opening of this event and made some introductory remarks on the importance of this project and they underlined the valuable scientific expertise that UNIPA can provide.

This event was open, exclusively, to the delegations of the different international partners involved and their invited guests.