What is long lasting is not yet good: the Mantelverordnung

On 1 August 2023, the time had come: the Mantelverordnung came into force

It took a total of 16 years of struggle to draw up this first-ever nationwide regulation on the production and use of mineral substitute building materials. Other, equally important objectives of the Mantelverordnung are the protection of soil and groundwater as well as the promotion of the circular economy in construction.

The Mantelverordnung consists of several parts, the most important being the introduction of the Substitute Building Materials Ordinance and the revision of the Federal Soil Protection and Contaminated Sites Ordinance.

On the one hand, the ordinance regulates for the respective substitute building materials or their individual classes which material values must be complied with, and on the other hand, how compliance is to be ensured within the framework of quality monitoring. On the other hand, it determines the installation methods of the substitute building materials adapted to the material values according to the local conditions.

The German Demolition Association (Deutscher Abbruchverband e.V., DA) criticises, however, that the regulations of the Substitute Building Materials Ordinance are not yet satisfactory for the demolition industry: Although it was pointed out several times and in good time, there is no regulation on when mineral substitute building materials reach the end of their waste status. This is because, despite elaborate and close-meshed quality monitoring in the production of mineral substitute building materials and the clear possibility of their use, the substitute building material produced in this way does not receive product status. This status, however, would be a real lever for improving the circular economy and increasing acceptance.

The DA is counting on a regulation on the end of waste for substitute building materials, which has been promised by politicians, being passed in a timely manner, ideally in 2023. In addition, we will closely monitor in the coming months how the implementation of the Mantelverordnung works in practice – and what problems may arise, especially with regard to the new analysis procedures of the demolition material and the cooperation with the authorities.

The entire ordinance can be found here:

Federal Law Gazette BGBl. online archive 1949 – 2022 | Bundesanzeiger Verlag

Bundesgesetzblatt BGBl. Online-Archiv 1949 – 2022 | Bundesanzeiger Verlag