A major change in construction. Recycled materials will be necessary.

• In Europe, the average share of recycled aggregates in total production reaches 12.5%, and in some countries it exceeds one-third of the total volume. In Poland, this is still marginal.
• Demand for aggregates in Poland reaches 200 million tons annually. Due to the announced large-scale public investments, a decline in demand is unlikely in the coming years. However, the replenishability of aggregate deposits does not exceed 100 million tons.
• Representatives of concrete producers claim that there are no technological obstacles to reusing recycled aggregate. However, they emphasize the need to ensure the appropriate purity of this raw material.

"We can't escape this; it's only a matter of time . It will happen sooner than we think," argued Jakub Grubiak, Chief Recycling Specialist at Heildelberg Materials Polska, during a debate organized as part of the Concrete Days festival on the prospects for recycled aggregates in construction.

Currently, the share of recycled aggregates in total aggregate production in Poland is only 2%. For comparison, in Europe this share averages 12.5%, and in some countries it even exceeds one-third of the total volume.

- In Belgium it is 46%, while in the Netherlands and Great Britain it is 35% each - enumerates Łukasz Machniak, assistant professor at the Department of Mining Engineering and Occupational Safety of the Faculty of Civil Engineering and Resource Management of the AGH University of Science and Technology.

At the same time , demand for aggregates in Poland reaches 200 million tons annually . In the coming years, due to the announced large-scale public investments (construction of the Central Communication Port , a nuclear power plant , and continued investment programs in railways and roads), a decline in demand is unlikely. However, the reproducibility of aggregate deposits does not exceed 100 million tons.

"In the case of gravel and sand, the national average sufficiency is 16 years, while in some voivodeships the sufficiency is 9, 10, or even 11 years. These are disturbing numbers, especially since we are observing an increasingly low resource recovery rate in these voivodeships," notes Łukasz Machniak.

- And new mines are increasingly distant from the main agglomerations producing concrete or prefabrication - adds Krzysztof Starzyk, an expert on low-emission transformation at Starzyk Group.

We will have more and more demolition debris, but not necessarily more natural aggregates.

Experts argue that concrete producers must begin to consider that even if the supply of natural aggregates doesn't decrease, their availability—due to geographical constraints—will. The need to transport aggregates long distances will translate into higher prices and a larger carbon footprint.

"Concrete and prefabrication producers must remember that the cement industry has begun decarbonization . The share of process emissions will decrease, and in a few years, it may turn out that the share of cement in the carbon footprint of concrete has decreased, while the share of aggregate will increase. And then the problem will arise of how to reduce it," warns Krzysztof Starzyk. Therefore, in his opinion, it is time to use recycled aggregates more than before.

- It is produced close to the agglomeration, it can be transported quickly and over shorter distances - he emphasizes.

"And we've only just begun to demolish more and more buildings . We need space in city centers, and this trend will only intensify. The amount of concrete rubble that will need to be managed will increase year by year," predicts Daniel Cekała, General Director of Concrete and Prefabrication at Holcim Polska.

Selective demolition is key to success. Guidelines and clear standards are needed.

Representatives of concrete producers claim that there are no technological obstacles to reusing recycled aggregate. However, they emphasize the need to ensure the appropriate purity of this raw material (this context raises questions about the reproducibility of the resulting product).

"Selective demolition is key to achieving half the success in the first stage. In the West, an audit is conducted at the demolition stage – to determine what's actually in a given building, what materials it's made of, so that it can be selectively dismantled," Jakub Grubiak emphasized during the debate, reminding that in Poland, since the beginning of this year, regulations have been in force introducing mandatory selective demolition of buildings, divided into six groups (including mineral waste: rubble, brick, concrete).

According to Dr. Małgorzata Konopska-Piechura, a concrete technologist and ESG manager at Strabag's TPA laboratory unit, interest in recycled materials has been growing in recent years, although this growth is primarily visible in the private sector. In the case of building construction, this process is supported by multi-criteria certification, which promotes the use of circular solutions.

" If we use recycled aggregates, we earn additional points , which makes the project more attractive to investors and banks. That's why we're talking to concrete producers to ensure that waste from our construction and demolition sites doesn't end up in landfills, but is instead returned to our construction sites as a fully functional construction product," explains Małgorzata Konopska-Piechura.

He admits, however, that contractors still struggle with selective demolition, as evidenced by statistics showing that in Poland , approximately 70 percent of construction waste, including approximately 5 million tons of concrete, ends up in landfills . The problem with reusing demolition materials was also highlighted by participants in a recent PRECOP conference debate, emphasizing that such materials automatically become waste the moment they are released onto public roads and only then need to be reintroduced into circulation by issuing declarations of performance.

"This is a costly, time-consuming, and cumbersome process. We need guidelines and clear standards," says Małgorzata Konopska-Piechura.

A common market for secondary raw materials and green VAT. The EU wants to increase the use of recycled products.

In the near future, however, EU legislation may become a factor influencing the scale of recycled aggregates use in Poland. Łukasz Szabat, Technology Manager at Cemex Polska, points out that the EU Clean Industry Pact aims to double the use of recycled raw materials in the EU (for aggregates, from 12% to 24% on average), which is being supported by the Circular Economy Act , currently under preparation (public consultations on this document are ongoing until November 6th), which is expected to be adopted in the fourth quarter of 2026.

"It would aim to increase pressure for circularity on a completely different scale. The idea is also to create a common market for waste and secondary raw materials in the EU. The second initiative is the green VAT initiative – the EU will want to encourage businesses to invest in recycling and reusing materials through tax incentives," explains Łukasz Szabat.