From hidden risks to practical solutions

Buildings are meant to protect us. Yet across Europe, they also contain something we rarely see – hazardous substances that can affect our health, the environment, and our ability to build a truly circular future. 

This challenge is at the heart of the NonHazCity3 project, implemented in the Baltic Sea Region (2023-2025). The project supported cities in reducing hazardous substances in construction and demonstrated how safer material choices can contribute to healthier living environments and more sustainable urban development. This experience is now directly feeding into the HAZGONE project, which builds further on preventing hazardous substances in circular material flows. 

Turning complex knowledge into usable tools 

NonHazCity3 delivers a clear and relevant message for initiatives like HAZGONE: achieving clean material cycles starts with what we build today. Hazardous substances are not a marginal issue. They influence indoor air quality and human health, determine whether materials can be safely reused or recycled, shape waste streams, and create long-term risks and costs for municipalities. At the same time, decision-makers often lack clear and practical information on the chemical content of building materials, which makes it difficult to act with confidence. 

A key contribution of the project was to bridge this gap by turning complex chemical knowledge into usable tools. By simplifying information and presenting it in an accessible way, NonHazCity3 enabled municipalities, designers and practitioners to make more informed choices without requiring specialised expertise. This shift from complexity to clarity is essential for bringing the topic into everyday decision-making. 

The project also clearly demonstrated that chemical safety and circularity must go hand in hand. Circular construction can only function effectively when materials are free from hazardous substances. Otherwise, these substances risk being carried forward into recycled materials and waste streams, undermining the very idea of a clean circular economy. This highlights the need for coordinated action across the entire value chain – from product design and material selection to construction, use, and end-of-life management. 

In this context, cities play a crucial role. Through public procurement and clear requirements, municipalities can influence the market and drive demand for safer alternatives. NonHazCity3 showed that when expectations are well defined and consistently applied, the market is ready to respond. At the same time, pilot activities across the region demonstrated that safer and more sustainable construction is achievable in real-world conditions, including within limited budgets. These experiences underline that progress does not depend on perfect conditions, but on continuous improvement, testing and learning in practice. 

The project also emphasised the importance of engaging people. Households are directly exposed to construction materials in their everyday lives, and their choices matter. When provided with clear and trustworthy information, residents are willing to opt for healthier solutions. This strengthens the link between individual decisions and wider environmental and circular economy goals. 

Another important lesson is that setting requirements alone is not sufficient. Ensuring that safer materials are actually used requires consistent supervision, verification and cooperation across all actors involved in construction processes. Bridging the gap between intention and implementation is essential for achieving real impact. 

For HAZGONE, NonHazCity3 offers a strong foundation and practical direction. Preventing hazardous substances in circular material flows requires addressing both upstream and downstream aspects at the same time. Decisions made at the design and production stage directly influence what can be safely reused or recycled later. In this sense, construction, use and end-of-life phases form one interconnected system that must be addressed holistically. 

Looking ahead, NonHazCity3 contributes to a shared vision of future cities where buildings are not sources of pollution, but safe material banks that support health, circularity and climate goals simultaneously. This transition is already underway, driven by better information, smarter decisions and strengthened cooperation between cities, industry and citizens. Building on this experience, HAZGONE is taking these lessons forward by focusing on preventing hazardous substances from entering circular flows and supporting safer material cycles in practice. 

Overall, NonHazCity3 confirms that chemical-smart construction is not a niche topic, but a key building block for a circular, climate-neutral and healthy society. 

Ready materials and tools from NonHazCity3  

Beyond its strategic insights and policy recommendations, NonHazCity3 generated a substantial portfolio of tangible and practice-oriented outputs. These include a range of ready-to-use tools, guidance materials and practical resources designed to support tox-free, circular and climate-friendly construction and renovation in everyday decision-making and implementation. The following section highlights a selection of the project’s key outcomes and practical instruments. 

• Building material catalogue 

This catalogue provides an overview of sustainable building materials, their environmental properties, potential applications and their contribution to circular, climate-neutral and low-pollutant construction methods. It is aimed at local authorities, planners, architectural firms, construction companies and procurement departments that need to make informed decisions when selecting materials. The aim is to provide professionals with practical guidance on how to integrate sustainable materials more effectively into construction and renovation projects. 

• Roadmap for implementing NHC3’s strategic and practical solutions in local authorities 

This publication presents guidelines, information materials and tools designed to support local authorities in planning toxic-free, circular and climate-neutral construction projects. The approaches developed were tested in pilot projects in several European cities. A supplementary roadmap for local authorities offers practical guidance on the implementation and evaluation of such projects. Based on the experience gained from the pilot activities, the materials were updated and further developed in 2025. 

• Tox-free building blueprint – chemical criteria for building certification and procurement 

Sustainable construction is becoming increasingly important in the EU as stricter legal requirements are implemented and the goals of the circular economy and climate neutrality are pursued. Certification schemes for sustainable buildings and green public procurement are regarded as key tools for considering environmental and health aspects in the construction sector. 

This publication analyses various international and national building certification schemes and compares them in terms of their criteria for hazardous chemicals. The findings provide guidance for certification schemes and public procurement bodies on how to specifically promote low-chemical and sustainable construction projects. 

• Real stories of sustainable renovation 

In this collection of renovation stories, we share real-life experiences from people who have undertaken DIY projects whilst adopting eco-friendly practices. These stories are inspired by the DIY guide and highlight best practices as well as the challenges encountered along the way. We hope that these personal experiences will inspire you to take a step towards making healthier and more sustainable renovation choices for your own home. 

• Policy recommendations  

People in Europe spend around 90% of their lives indoors, yet research carried out as part of the NonHazCity3 project shows that harmful substances such as PFAS, plasticisers and bisphenols are still present in these spaces – with building products often identified as a potential source. Current EU and national regulations have so far failed to systematically prevent these emissions and do not guarantee a completely safe indoor environment. The NonHazCity3 project has therefore developed strategic and practical solutions for decision-makers in the construction and renovation sectors and tested them in pilot projects. The results show that toxic-free, circular and climate-friendly construction is already technically feasible today and can be further promoted through appropriate policy frameworks.

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