Background Construction and demolition waste (CDW) is one of the heaviest and most voluminous of all waste types. In some Member States, much of the unrecovered waste is disposed of in landfills, creating environmental damage through air, water and soil pollution. If not separated at source, CDW may also contain small amounts of hazardous waste, which not only pose particular environmental risks but also hamper recycling. CDW recovery rates are currently only 30-35%, but should have at least doubled by 2020 if the targets of the Waste Framework Directive (2008/98/EC) are to be achieved. There is great potential for recycling and reusing CDW materials since some components have high resource value. However, present systems require the waste to be sorted manually, which is only effective with large particles. The small and medium-sized particles remain a mix of materials and must be landfilled. Wet processes exist for the separation of such materials, but these generate sludge polluted with fibres and sulphates which requires expensive water treatment. The effectiveness of these processes is also limited because they fail to separate different products if their densities are too close - the processes do not differentiate between plaster, wood and plastics. Solutions using air - aeraulic - systems also exist, but present the same problems as wet processes and result in high energy consumption. Objectives The 'CDW-recycling' project aims to use innovative technologies to find solutions to the problems currently limiting the recycling and reuse of CDW materials. It will establish a pilot plant that should be capable of sorting CDW pieces of 8-30 mm and of 30-80 mm at industrial scale. In a first stage, the project aims to design and set up sorting processes for the two fractions – 8-30 mm and 30-80 mm – of CDW. To achieve this, the project partner Pellenc Selective Technologies will adapt its optical and blowing technologies for industrial use. Pilot testing should enable definition and validation of the optimal specifications. In the second stage, the pilot projects will be integrated into industrial-scale waste sorting processes at the beneficiary’s site at Nice-Saint Isidore. Further modification and optimisation should then take place and, if necessary, equipment – such as a conveyor belt - added to the prototype. The new process should effectively demonstrate that it is possible to recover large quantities of CDW and with less of an environmental impact than using traditional CDW management techniques. Expected results Effective demonstration of an innovative process of small-size-particle sorting for separation of CDW at industrial scale, achieving: An average sorting capacity of 5 tonnes/hr; Significantly reduced environmental impact compared with present solutions; Successful management of sorting high-density – 2-3 g/cm3 – objects; 80-85% efficiency of plaster extraction from aggregates in particle sizes of 8-30 mm – achieving the required standards for aggregates recovery; A 95% purity plaster part, allowing its reuse or recycling; and Well-separated medium-sized (30-80 mm) pieces of materials such as plaster, plastic, wood and aggregates, which are all potentially recyclable or reusable.