Procurement of concrete sewers: please unambiguous requirements

The Sewerage Sector of Concrete House advocates the setting of unambiguous and transparent requirements for concrete sewerage products. Especially when it comes to sustainability and circularity. "The Assessment Guideline Environmental Profiles for Concrete Infrastructure Products (BRL K11002) can provide this," said Annemiek Houtman, sector secretary of Betonhuis Sewerage.

The directive gives clients a guarantee that they are buying concrete products with transparent and reliable information regarding a product's environmental costs. With this directive, a certifying body tests whether manufacturers manufacture their products in accordance with the required environmental profiles. This was already done for concrete paving products and now also for sewage products.

Constant level of quality required

For sewage products, when materials are reused, the required constant quality level of concrete cannot always be guaranteed because this material is not constantly available. The performance of the product must come first; inferior products carry a greater risk of environmental and safety incidents. Houtman: "The member producers feel that no generic statement can be made about applying a fixed percentage of secondary material in the concrete recipes for sewage pipes. It is better to determine this project-dependently. However, we do see a prominent role for the BRL K11002 in the call for tenders".