Building the future in a circular
economy: “There is still potential”

Construction industry meets minerals: Politics as an interface

At “Mineral Day” 2026, representatives from politics, the construction industry, the public, the waste disposal and recycling industry, and science came together with the BDE and the HDB to discuss the opportunities and possibilities of circular construction from a technical and economic perspective. The consensus: consistent public procurement and a sharpening of political perspectives are the decisive keys to this. Mineral Day took place against the backdrop of the German government’s cabinet deliberations on the circular economy action program, which is intended to provide key impetus for the implementation of the National Circular Economy Strategy.

In their introduction to the event, Daniel Imhäuser, Partner and Managing Director of the Blasius Schuster Group, and Tim-Oliver Müller, Chief Executive of the Construction Industry, made it clear that Politics is an essential interface between the construction industry and minerals – however, the two industry representatives still see significant potential for improvement in this area. In the UK, 29 % of secondary mineral raw materials are already being used in the construction industry, while in Germany only half of this amount is being used. However, due to limited resources, it is urgent to close the loop. Once the political conditions are in place, the roles are clearly defined: the BDE is responsible for construction and procurement, while the construction industry is responsible for technical implementation. Here, the two moderators emphasized: “The industries can and want to do more. What is missing is legal certainty and clear guidelines in procurement practice. Public clients must specifically demand circular economy practices.”

Environmentally friendly and resource-efficient procurement: obstacles and proposed solutions

The discussion at the “Mineral Day” was based, among other things, on a short report commissioned by the BDE on green public procurement, which focuses on concrete options for action for resource-efficient procurement. The report was presented by attorney Thomas Schneider, Senior Counsel at the law firm Becker Büttner Held. Schneider highlighted one hurdle that needs to be overcome: “Purchasers initially look at public procurement law.” Under the current legal circumstances, specialist laws on the circular economy and climate are still clearly subordinate to this. While the Circular Economy Act (§ 45) stipulates that “[...] in procurement [...], preference shall be given to products that [...] have been manufactured by recycling waste, in particular using recycled materials, or from renewable raw materials [...]” and the Climate Protection Act (§ 13) stipulates that consideration must be given to how procurement can contribute to achieving national climate protection goals, the overarching general public procurement law merely regulates that recycled raw materials can be procured. “Procurement law does not regulate the what, but only the how of procurement,” said Thomas Schneider. There is no clear regulation of what is meant by “sustainable procurement”.

In this respect, the lawyer sees an adaptation of the specialist laws to the terminology of procurement law as the first decisive step toward strengthening environmentally friendly public procurement. For example, paragraph 1 of the Circular Economy Act would have to be amended as follows: “Public contracting authorities (§ 99 GWB), including sectoral contracting authorities (§ 100 GWB) and concession grantors (§ 101 GWB), are obliged to contribute to the fulfillment of the purpose of § 1 through their conduct.”

Among other things, the Climate Protection Act must be amended as follows: “The public contracting authority (§ 99 GWB), including sectoral contracting authorities (§ 100 GWB) and concession grantors (§ 101 GWB), must examine the award of public contracts (§ 103 GWB) and concessions (Section 105 GWB) must examine how this can contribute to achieving the national climate protection targets pursuant to Section 3.“ One of the first questions would then always have to be ”Are there measures for green procurement?”. This would result in an extension of the scope of application to all public contracting authorities and procurement procedures. Enforceable rights for market participation and urgently needed legal developments through procurement case law would also be consequences of the amendment to the law. The end result of the further development of the Act Against Restraints of Competition would therefore be the introduction of the procurement principle of environmentally friendly public procurement.

Thomas Schneider summarized: “Currently, there is no obligation for environmentally friendly procurement in the GWB. A new procurement principle in Section 97 (1) GWB would both restrict the freedom to determine services in favour of ecological criteria and establish an obligation to take these criteria into account from the determination of requirements to the award decision.” The lawyer presented the following steps as accompanying measures:

Normative specification in individual provisions: service description, suitability, award, conditions of execution

Systematic anchoring across all phases of the procurement process

Recycling of mineral construction and demolition waste: practical substitute building materials ordinance

As part of “Mineral Day”, the construction industry presented its position paper on the further development of the Substitute Building Materials Ordinance. In his keynote speech, Dirk Stern, Head of Environment and Technical Occupational Safety at HDB, presented the HDB position paper “10 measures for a practical EBV” and data on the recycling of mineral construction and demolition waste. The EBV has a long history: it took 16 years after the first working draft for the regulation to come into force in 16 federal states on August 1, 2023, following the first amendment. It now affects approximately 2917 operators of mobile and stationary processing plants.

However, after around two years of practical experience, the construction industry has found that the EBV in its current form is not practical enough. It leads to bureaucratic hurdles, federal law is interpreted and enforced differently due to room for interpretation, and the recycling rate of substitute building materials is too low. For this reason, the construction industry is calling for a second amendment to the ordinance in the near future in order to strengthen the circular economy through the best possible recycling of mineral waste, to create a uniform and legally binding regulation for substitute building materials at the federal level, and to ensure soil and groundwater protection.

For this reason, Dirk Stern used the EBV Plan Example 2.0 to explain ten “low-hanging fruits” that should ensure a quick amendment:

1. Scope of investigation at the place of origin: Short column test as a uniform analysis method for WPK and external monitoring

2. Nationwide binding rule for groundwater determination: Clarification of the permissible soil type and the thickness of the groundwater cover layer

3. Removal of the exclusion on gravelly soils: Approval of the use of mineral substitute building materials on gravelly subsoil

4. Reduction of bureaucratic obligations: Simplification of documentation through the introduction of a collective delivery note and simplification of documentation through the introduction of a small quantity regulation

5. More flexible evidence for mobile processing plants: Clarification of the requirements for updating the EgN when changing a construction project

6. Clear waste disposal regulations for substitute building materials of all quality classes

7. Measures against obstacles in tenders for public construction projects

8. Removal of additional installation restrictions for certain materials: Bitumen-bound mixtures containing MEB are exempted from §§ 19, 20, 22, and 23 when installed in accordance with TL Asphalt-StB 07/13

9. No additional installation restrictions for certain construction products and construction methods by the EBV if these are already sufficiently regulated by recognized technical regulations

10. Better interpretation and enforcement of the implementation: Introduction of a sanction option for non-compliance with the notification requirement for the use of a mobile processing plant and for non-compliance with the notification requirement, in particular the final notification

Conclusion: market-ready circular economy in the construction industry, political implementation required

At the end of the event, all participants agreed: the course has been set for a successful circular economy in the construction industry - now it is up to politicians and the public sector to create the necessary conditions for this. Daniel Imhäuser summed up: “The recycling and waste management industry can deliver. Mineral recycled raw materials are available in sufficient quality and quantity in many places.” Now it is crucial that public clients consistently demand these materials, use them in a legally compliant manner, and, in the event of demolition, can hand them over for recycling in a targeted manner. Tim-Oliver Müller added: “Recyclable construction requires reliable and practical framework conditions. Companies are ready to use recycled building materials.” It is now important that regulation and procurement enable these solutions and do not slow them down.