ITER Project: Experimentation on Ecological and Recyclable Raw Earth Plasters

As the deadlines for the 2030 Agenda approach, there is a clear delay accumulated by some nations which risk not achieving the set objectives. Among the areas that present a greater margin for improvement emerge the strengthening of the transition to the Circular economy and the use of construction materials with low embodied energy. Starting from these assumptions, the ITER project aims to test and optimize the production of totally recyclable plasters based on raw earth mixed with materials coming from processing waste from agricultural supply chains (essentially local supply chains, such as wheat, rice, reed, hemp, flax, agave, etc.) and by-products of the stone supply chains (coming from the sawing of stone materials). The objective is twofold: on the one hand, the need to design a product that guaran-tees high mechanical, thermal, environmental, and durability performances; on the other hand, the need to optimize the production process to minimize waste, reuse by-products, increase lifetime behavior while decreasing energy consumptions and pollution. The project embraces the principle of industrial symbiosis and therefore provides the opportunity of creating synergies between different production sectors. Attention will be paid to determining the impacts of raw earth-plastered environments on occupants’ health as well as to verify the economic feasibility and sustainability of each phase of the process (through an LCA and LCC study). Furthermore, the Material Circularity Indicator (MCI) will be quantified, a composite indicator that analyzes the circularity of the company and the product/service offered, as well as the degree of risk and impact on the environment.