Circular infrastructure: Opportunities for buyers in the circular transition

The transition to a circular economy offers plenty of opportunities, including for the infrastructure sector. We spoke to Tom Coenen, associate professor in the Integrated Project Delivery group at the University of Twente. Tom has written a PhD thesis on the transition to circular infrastructure. In February 2024, he had the opportunity to inform the Infrastructure and Water Management Committee of the House of Representatives about this. He discovered that procurement plays a crucial role in this transition. In this article, Tom shares his insights on the current situation, the main challenges and the opportunities that exist for buyers in the infrastructure sector.

What prompted your research?

‘My research started with a broad question: how do we make infrastructure circular? I soon discovered that technology is not the biggest problem. The real challenge is in the way we work and collaborate. That is why I investigated how the transition to circularity is going now, what obstacles there are and what organisations can do to apply circular thinking throughout the organisation.’

What is currently going on in terms of procurement within the infrastructure sector?

‘Within infrastructure, several public clients, such as ProRail, water authorities and Rijkswaterstaat, start many projects separately. Procurement plays a central role here: infrastructure assets or services are procured based on predefined requirements. This process is often linear and focused on improving or replacing individual assets, such as locks or viaducts. This way of working does not align with circular principles. The limited scope of many projects, for example in a single asset or a single construction phase, makes reusing or scaling up circular solutions very difficult. As a result, opportunities to take sustainable and circular steps often remain unused or within a few pilots.’

Can you give an example?

‘A good example is the replacement of a bridge. Currently, the client often translates the problem into a list of specific requirements and determines which product best suits them. The construction of the new bridge is then carried out as a stand-alone project, with the focus entirely on replacing or improving that one bridge. At such a point, it is often already too late for the project team to include circular opportunities, as the procurement process has already been completed.

What we need to do is: look wider. Suppose you link the demolition of the old bridge directly to the construction of the new one. Then you can reuse materials and plan smarter. Or look even bigger: what if you don’t just look at that one bridge, but include several bridges that are due for replacement at the same time and you can move towards a circular standard? By combining projects and organising them together, circularity not only becomes more feasible, but also much more efficient. A great example is North Holland, where several clients are now joining forces in the replacement task for bridges and viaducts.’

By combining projects and organising them together, circular working becomes not only more feasible, but also much more efficient.

Tom Coenen

What are the biggest obstacles to circular infrastructure?

‘The three biggest obstacles are a lack of collaboration, an overly project-based approach and tendering procedures that focus mainly on the lowest price. There is often an ‘us-side’ mentality between clients and market participants, which hinders open dialogue. In addition, projects are usually carried out separately, whereas programme-based working offers the opportunity to seize circular opportunities and connect projects intelligently. Programmatic working can be done, for instance, by combining similar projects or assignments, creating more space for the long term. In addition, tendering procedures are not yet sufficiently designed for circularity. Although circular solutions may seem more expensive in the short term, they are often cheaper and more sustainable in the long term. However, you don’t see those gains in a single tender.’

How can we collaborate better?

‘It starts with trust, with the first step lying with the contracting party. Clients and contractors need to collaborate openly and pursue common goals rather than just sticking to individual interests. A programme-based approach makes it possible to connect projects and apply circularity efficiently. A good example is the reuse of bridge girders in the A44 and A9, where different objects and projects are linked to facilitate large-scale reuse. Framework agreements, for example, also offer opportunities for such long-term collaborations, giving much more room for innovation and circular solutions.

In addition, it is important to align procurement criteria with the entire lifespan rather than just the purchase. By including reuse, lifetime and environmental impact and focusing on total life-cycle costs rather than just initial costs, more room is created for circular choices. Finally, making smarter use of space and flexibility in laws and regulations can help successful pilots scale up structurally.’

Can you give an example of a successful approach?

‘A great example is Waterschap Limburg, which has realised a standardised, modular sewage treatment plant thanks to long-term framework agreements with several market participants. Due to its adaptability and reusability, this fits completely within the circular picture and is increasingly being adopted by other water authorities. In North Holland, the province and Rijkswaterstaat are also working from a network perspective. By bundling work intelligently, they reduce overheads, work more efficiently and make better use of circular opportunities.’

What tips would you like to give buyers?

‘Procurers can take several steps to accelerate the transition to circular infrastructure. By having open discussions with contracting parties at an early stage and using the space to innovate together, you lay the foundation for circular solutions. In addition, it is important to look at the long term. Include the total cost of ownership in tenders and focus on the lifespan and reusability of products. By including circular criteria in tender documents, such as the use of recycled materials and sustainable innovations, you encourage suppliers to come up with circular solutions. Collaboration is also essential. Work together on a circular future with other buyers, suppliers and governments to accelerate circularity. We have already had many successful pilots, so it is now time to scale up successful initiatives to realise real impact.’

By thinking in advance about the collaboration you want to shape for circularity, you can select appropriate procurement approaches to contract those parties who also want to move towards a circular future.

Tom Coenen

How do you see the future of circular infrastructure?

‘I hope that in ten years’ time circular principles will be the norm in infrastructure. We need to stop thinking in separate projects and move to programme-based approaches, where we focus on circular solutions through collaboration. The technology and knowledge are already there. The challenge is in changing processes and mindset to a long-term and network perspective. If we invest in this now, we can create a future with less waste, lower costs and a smaller environmental impact. Circularity then becomes not something extra, but a natural part of how we work.’