December 5 (SeeNews) - Bulgarian civil engineering company Glavbolgarstroy said that it is starting work on a mobile installation that will help recycle construction and demolition materials into high-grade secondary building materials under a project to which the EU has provided 13 million euro ($13.75 million).
The Mobiccon-Pro project will see Glavbolgarstroy lead a pan-European consortium of six other organisations and five municipalities from France, Belgium, Denmark, Bulgaria and Serbia, the Bulgarian company said in a statement over the weekend.
The project is funded by the EU's flagship research and innovation programme, Horizon Europe.
The consortium is tasked with developing the technical concept, building and commissioning a mobile installation that will promote the circular economy in the construction industry by introducing novel ways to manage construction waste and return it to use in industrial processes or for sale on the market. The facility will comprise various equipment, prototypes and installations to carry out crushing, sifting, separating, purifying and washing, in order to assist in the production of high-end secondary products and materials. It will be able to be reassembled at different locations, including at large construction sites.
Participants in Mobiccon-Pro include the municipalities of Montana, Samokov, Slivnitsa and Kostinbrod in Bulgaria as well as Pirot in Serbia, along with Brussels-based advisor IDEA Consult and the European construction industry federation (FIEC). The other consortium members are the Technical University of Denmark, CY Cergy Paris University as well as the University of Architecture, Civil Engineering and Geodesy and the Economic Policy Institute in Bulgaria.
The pilot installation will be based in Sofia for two years, before being moved for testing on the territory of one of the four Bulgarian municipalities supporting the project. It will eventually be located in the municipality of Pirot in Serbia, Glavbolgarstroy also said.
The Bulgarian capital Sofia will be the base of the Southeast European programme cluster which will foster collaboration between the academic, public and non-profit sectors, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and industry for the project.
(1 euro = 1.95583 levs)