ABSTRACT
Circular economy is the central strategy in the EU chosen to decrease today’s overconsumption of raw materials extracted from nature. Due to the vast amounts of raw materials used in the building and construction sector, it is pointed out as a key sector. At the end of life of structures, reuse of whole components is rated over recovery of materials for production of new components. The cases found in literature that relate bridge engineering and reuse are limited to a case on reuse of cut out concrete blocks in a pedestrian bridge. Related to buildings, there is more literature on reuse (though less than 100), so reuse is still very far from being mainstream. Learnings from reuse of the structural elements in buildings could inspire reuse in relation to bridges, however, there are no cases of reuse to the full strength potential. The barriers towards implementation of circular principles are several and can are categorized as: economic, sociological, political, organizational, technological, and environmental. The potential risks associated with structural safety when reusing elements need to be overcome by the development of methodologies for strength estimations and durability assessments.
