Safe recovery and reuse of stormwater sediments

This development journey aims to create a comprehensive understanding of the properties of sediments and their technical management, which can guide further development towards safe and resource-efficient extraction and reuse. The need is based on the fact that current handling practices generally classify sediments as waste, making landfill disposal the standard solution, even though the material can in many cases contain resources such as fill material, nutrients or rare earth elements. The work includes detailed characterisation of sediments from different types of stormwater facilities, as well as road sweepings, with analyses of physical properties, contamination levels and environmental risks. The results are used to estimate the value of the sediments and provide a basis for future technical, economic and policy-related models. The development journey is therefore not limited to characterisation, but also creates the conditions for gradually addressing the technical barriers that need to be resolved in order for extraction and reuse to become practically feasible.