Circular matchmaking for the construction sector with the EME platform

Excess Materials Exchange (EME) has a dream of a 100% circular economy, in which resources are infinitely cycled across sectors without negative environmental impact. In pursuit of this dream we developed the EME platform, officially launched in June 2020. EME offers a secure B2B platform that brings together a range of solutions to value and match excess materials at scale. We are the world’s first industrial materials exchange that helps large construction and infrastructure companies directly impact their profit through the resale of their high value reusable and recyclable assets.

We do that as follows: we start by giving materials and products with an identity using a so-called Resource Passport. On the EME platform this digital identity registers key insights about a material and/or product, e.g. quality, quantity and components. This identity enables us to actively make high value matches for reuse and recycling. A high value match is defined by having a positive financial business case, or reduced costs, and an environmental impact reduction. To calculate this we use a valuation tool, specifically optimised for the valuation of “waste” within the construction and infrastructure sector. This method has already been validated and applied by 5 facade construction companies.

What makes EME unique is that we make matches between sectors, since we see that this is where the majority of the high value matches are made. Moreover the platform is designed with scale in mind. For that we use graph databases which remain equally performant even as the dataset grows compared to ordinary databases. As a result, EME clients’ will be able to search relevant circular matches on the platform with a significantly reduced execution time.

Lastly, creating scale in the supply and demand for materials and products lowers the cost of transaction for organisations when wanting to exchange them. With automation features scheduled to be developed over the coming year, matchmaking will be quicker and hence even cheaper.

As of January 2020, EME is operating the platform including marketplace for ProRail, the Dutch railway network company. It will be used by hundreds of their internal and external stakeholders to exchange railway tracks, sleepers and ballast at scale. Our platform is also used by the Metropolitan Region of Amsterdam, the City of Apeldoorn and construction companies such as Berkvens and Geze.

The business model of the platform is based upon a fixed set-up fee and a monthly subscription fee. Each company can register up to 100 users and as many materials or product streams as they see fit.

EMEs platform helps companies speed up the transition to a circular economy and make a profit at the same time. We are confident that EME is the right platform to realise the vision of a circular matchmaking platform for the City of Vienna.