How the Botanic Garden’s greenhouse creates new opportunities for circular material flows
With increasing demands for sustainable solutions, today’s society faces major challenges when it comes to managing resources in an efficient and climate-smart way. In a collaboration between PiiA, Ragn-Sells and several other actors, a method for creating circular material flows is now being developed, with a particular focus on flat glass. And the place to demonstrate this is a greenhouse in the Botanical Garden in Lund.
The project, which runs until 2025, aims to introduce a digital infrastructure that allows materials to be tracked and ensures that recycled resources maintain their quality throughout the circular flow.
– ‘We need to stop seeing waste as a problem and start seeing it as a resource – something that can be reused and reintroduced into the cycle,’ says Karin Wannerberg, project manager at RagnSells.
The project demo in the Botanical Garden
A central part of the project is a demo in the Botanical Garden in Lund, where a greenhouse is undergoing a remodelling under the leadership of the National Property Board with the support of White Arkitekter. Through a 3D model of the building, data will be shared between actors in the value chain. This is to ensure that the information model developed by the project can support effective data sharing and traceability in practice. The aim is to demonstrate how data is shared through a scalable approach based on common ontologies, which means that both humans and machines can interpret and use the information in a consistent way.
From theory to practice
The success of the circular economy rests on our ability to follow and understand the path of materials throughout the value chain. In the project’s demo, a digital twin has created a replica of all relevant data and steps in the material flow, from construction to reuse or recycling. This model acts as a ‘digital representation’ that allows information to be shared on the quality of the material, logistical aspects and other crucial data points.
– To create real change, we need a digital infrastructure that follows the material all the way. This way, we can ensure that nothing valuable is lost,’ says Karin Wannerberg.
The key to scalable solutions
The project highlights the need for common information models that enable smooth data sharing between different actors and systems. Working with common digital standards ensures that data on the origin, quality and future potential of the material can be preserved and communicated effectively throughout the value chain. This is a crucial component in developing circular business models and new approaches to recycling flat glass, for example.
Decarbonising with circular business models
The primary objective of the project is to enable the reuse and high-quality recycling of flat glass, which in turn reduces the need for virgin materials and cuts carbon emissions for flat glass by 54% across the value chain. At the same time, the industry is demanding quality assurance and traceability to ensure that recycled materials are of a high standard. The demo conducted at the Botanical Garden greenhouse will show how these goals can be achieved in practice and how a functioning digital information model can support circular flows of flat glass.
The team, from the left: Oskar Storm, Saint Gobain | Rickard Nygren, White arkitekter | Christina Stålhandske, Ragn-Sells | Karin Wannerberg, Ragn-Sells
