Circular procurement

Fair and effective circular procurement of demolition

Clients increasingly steer on circularity in demolition and renovation. A good idea in itself, but there are a few common practices to watch out for.

Common pitfalls in tenders

Three common pitfalls that often achieve the opposite of what you want as a client.

  1. Prescribing exactly what must be reused

    Many products seem reusable, but are hard for demolition contractors to sell or expensive to dismantle. If you enforce their reuse, contractors price in a large risk premium and the project becomes needlessly expensive.

  2. Scoring plans instead of measurable figures

    Told well, reusing roof gravel sounds just as noble as reusing the PIR insulation boards underneath. Yet the PIR boards save far more CO₂ emissions. You only promote CO₂ reduction if you steer on it explicitly.

  3. A notional discount in the tender

    This favours whoever promises the most, which unfortunately is no guarantee of results. Properly monitoring compliance is very costly and leads to disputes. Fortunately, there is an easier way.

Reward only proven CO₂ reduction

All it takes is a good inventory of the potential CO₂ reduction and a bonus after the project if the demolition contractor can prove reuse. Otherwise, you simply tender on price.

  1. Inventory of the potential CO₂ reduction

    An independent consultant maps all the products released in the project, including their materials. For each product, they calculate how much CO₂ can be avoided through reuse and recycling.

  2. Tender: purely on price

    Bidding demolition contractors get access to the inventory, the potential CO₂ reduction per product and the bonus they can earn with it afterwards. Contractors who genuinely expect to reuse more can bid lower because of the promised bonus.

  3. Gathering the evidence

    The contractor carrying out the work only receives a bonus for demonstrable reuse. The burden of proof therefore lies with the contractor, not the client.

  4. Verification and CO₂ bonus

    An independent consultant determines how many tonnes of CO₂ emissions have demonstrably been avoided. The client sets in advance how many euros per tonne the contractor receives, and the maximum bonus.

The outcome

Why this works

  • Contractors who are good at reuse get selected ahead of contractors who are good at writing plans.

  • Results are well recorded without monitoring costs, because the contractor has every incentive to supply all the evidence.

  • Cheaper than other forms of circular procurement, because contractors don't need to price in risk for promises they can't keep.

  • This way, every extra euro goes to CO₂ reduction: not to fine promises, costly monitoring and priced-in risk premiums.
  • With this approach to procurement, you can even lower project costs compared with a regular demolition project.
  • And it's easy to put into practice with Reusemate's software.

Feel free to schedule a call if you'd like to know how it works.

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