Haopeng Wang – Enabling Construction Material Circularity in the Transport Infrastructure Sector
Haopeng Wang // University of Liverpool // Connected Places Catapult // Net Zero
Transport infrastructure is a major contributor to the UK’s carbon footprint – directly responsible for 16% of emissions, and influencing up to 37% through its reliance on high-impact materials like asphalt, concrete, and steel. Waste, inefficiencies, and the conventional use-and-dispose approach across procurement, construction, and end-oflife processes are serious barriers to reaching Net Zero targets.
A key challenge is the uncertainty around the performance of recycled materials, which creates hesitation among industry professionals. At the same time, existing regulations and procurement standards offer little incentive to adopt circular economy approaches. There is a clear and urgent need to measure the potential for circularity, benchmark current practices, and develop practical, evidence-based pathways to embed circular principles across the transport infrastructure sector. This collaborative project between Haopeng Wang and Connected Places Catapult seeks to address this matter.
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