Towards the Circular Soil Concept: Optimization of Engineered Soils for Green Infrastructure Application

Pia Minixhofer, Bernhard Scharf, Sebastian Hafner, Oliver Weiss, Christina Henöckl, Moritz Greiner, Thomas Room and Rosemarie Stangl
Additional contact information
Pia Minixhofer: Institute of Soil Bioengineering and Landscape Construction, Department of Civil Engineering and Natural Hazards, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Peter-Jordan-Strasse 82, A-1190 Vienna, Austria
Bernhard Scharf: Institute of Soil Bioengineering and Landscape Construction, Department of Civil Engineering and Natural Hazards, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Peter-Jordan-Strasse 82, A-1190 Vienna, Austria
Sebastian Hafner: Institute of Soil Bioengineering and Landscape Construction, Department of Civil Engineering and Natural Hazards, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Peter-Jordan-Strasse 82, A-1190 Vienna, Austria
Oliver Weiss: Institute of Soil Bioengineering and Landscape Construction, Department of Civil Engineering and Natural Hazards, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Peter-Jordan-Strasse 82, A-1190 Vienna, Austria
Christina Henöckl: Institute of Soil Bioengineering and Landscape Construction, Department of Civil Engineering and Natural Hazards, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Peter-Jordan-Strasse 82, A-1190 Vienna, Austria
Moritz Greiner: Institute of Soil Bioengineering and Landscape Construction, Department of Civil Engineering and Natural Hazards, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Peter-Jordan-Strasse 82, A-1190 Vienna, Austria
Thomas Room: DI Thomas Romm ZT, Löwengasse 47a/7, A-1030 Vienna, Austria
Rosemarie Stangl: Institute of Soil Bioengineering and Landscape Construction, Department of Civil Engineering and Natural Hazards, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Peter-Jordan-Strasse 82, A-1190 Vienna, Austria

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 2, 1-24

Abstract: At conventional construction sites, the removal of soil and other excavated materials causes enormous mass movement, with a significant climate impact and contribution to global CO 2 release. This study aimed to generate a Circular Soil concept for reusing excavated materials by creating engineered soils for landscape construction at large building sites. Engineered soils act as a substitute for natural soils and fulfill vital technical and soil functions when installing an urban green infrastructure (GI). In a field study, the vegetation performance on engineered soils was evaluated to establish a methodological approach, to assess the applicability of the Circular Soil concept. First, the technical specifications (grain-size distribution) were modeled for intensive green roof and turfgrass applications. Then, the soil components were optimized, mixed, installed and tested for greenery purposes, focusing on plant growth performance indicators (vitality, projective cover ratio and grass-herb ratio) to assess the vegetation performance. The results showed that the engineered soils match the performance of the reference soil alternatives. In conclusion, the Circular Soil concept has a high potential to contribute considerably to sustainable on-site soil management and the circular economy. It can be applied on a larger scale for urban GI development and sustainable resources management in the landscaping and construction sector.

Keywords: green infrastructures; circular soil; engineered soils; vegetation performance; sustainable resources management; circular economy; sustainable soil management (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/2/905/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/2/905/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:2:p:905-:d:724358

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().