BRICK-BEACH - Artificial regeneration of urban beaches with eroded recylced aggregates

BRICK-BEACH project turns problems into opportunities, and uses the waste materials from illegal dumpings (BRICKS) for the regeneration of the littoral (BEACHES). 

An innovative treatment plant will be built to integrate selecting, crushing and eroding processes, as well as gypsum recovery system. From the existing illegal landfills in Vélez-Málaga, this plant will produce a high quality recycled aggregate suitable as a beach material. This way:

1. The damages that dredging the seabed would have produced will be avoided.
2. The layers of clay created from the use of sand from the seabed will not appear thus avoiding negative impact on tourism.
3. The piles of rubble will disappear and the landscape will be restored.

The aggregate produced from the treated construction waste will be used to regenerate the beaches in Vélez-Málaga. The University of Malaga will perform quality tests on the produced aggregate to ensure its wide acceptance and safe use in the environment. With the Mezquitilla beach regeneration, the project will implement an integrated environmental and economic regeneration programme. An integrated treatment of environmental recovery through vegetation will be carried out: plant species will be seeded in the upper beach area and seagrass meadows restocked under sea level. The maintenance of these meadows, which serve as a refuge for many species of fry, will increase the productivity of the fishing activity in the area and will require its protection from trawler boats by installing stakes that also allow the cultivation of mollusks. The new urban space created with the beach regeneration will also be an opportunity to generate new economic opportunities based on environmental values such as recycling and reuse.