The Circular Economy
April is a time of renewal and rebirth. Trees are budding. Daffodils and tulips are coming up after a long winter. It’s no wonder that Earth Day falls in April. This is a time in our industry when discussions often turn to sustainable construction and environmental impacts. Just like the seasons create a circular pattern year after year, an increasing focus in our construction industry has been given to the Circular Economy. According to the U.S. EPA, a Circular Economy keeps materials and products in circulation for as long as possible. A circular economy reduces material use, redesigns materials and products to be less resource intensive, and recaptures “waste” as a resource to manufacture new materials and products. This process is illustrated by the figure developed by the European Parliament.
Sustainable Origins…..
While many foundation systems struggle to contribute to the multiple parts of the circle, Ductile Iron Piles are designed with the circular economy in mind. Manufacturing of Ductile Iron Piles utilizes 100% recycled materials as raw product, providing a more sustainable solution than many deep foundations, and starting off the circular economy by contributing to the waste management component from previous metal products. The production also involves considerable sustainable design components. The manufacturer of Ductile Iron Piles, Tiroler Rohre, GmbH (TRM) has also implemented numerous measures to enhance a green manufacturing philosophy. Over 3,100 tons of carbon dioxide are saved annually by re-using “waste” heat generated during the melting process. The heat is fed into a local heating network and supplies 650 households. In addition, TRM utilizes the largest photovoltaic system for any Austrian plant to generate sustainable energy for 300 nearby households.
Recycled materials used in ductile iron pile manufacturing
TRM also puts such a high value on sustainable practice that they pursued and were awarded an Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) for the system, which included a detailed breakdown of the Global Warming Potential or carbon footprint of Ductile Iron Piles compared with other systems. They are the first cast iron manufacturer to initiate an EPD.
Sustainable Solutions….
Further along in the circular economy process, Ductile Iron Piles deliver a sustainable deep foundation solution for a wide variety of projects from urban revitalization, industrial renovations, brownfield sites and even greenfield projects. In many cases, the low vibration, low overhead system is installed as a part of renovation and re-use of existing facilities.
For more information about concepts incorporated into the circular economy, TRM’s Ductile Iron Pile EPD and sustainability of the TRM Ductile Iron Piling system, check out the Sustainability Brochure. If you are involved in a project where sustainable foundations are valued by the project stakeholders, reach out to us to see how a Fast. Simple. Safe. and Sustainable solution can work on your job.
PROJECT EXPERIENCE – MATERIAL RECOVERY FACILITY
As a part of the circular economy, Waste Management was renovating a metal sorting warehouse at their Philadelphia recovery yard to add new overhead box conveyors. The project site consisted of historic fill extending up to 23 feet thick composed of clay, silt, sand with organics and construction debris. Residual soils were encountered below the fill and transitioned to weathered rock with schist bedrock encountered between 29 and 38 feet below grade. In order to support the new foundations within and near the existing building, exterior grouted Ductile Iron Piles using a Series 118/9.0 with a 220 mm grout shoe were designed to penetrate the fill and residual soils to reach set on the underlying rock. A full-scale load test was performed on the 42-ft long test pile bearing in rock. The test was performed up to 80 Tons with the pile deflecting only about ¼-inch at the maximum load. After completing the load test, 39 production piles were installed using an Atlas Copco HB2000 hammer in 5 working days. Pile lengths ranged from 32 to 51 feet. For more information, check out the project summary.
