The aim of this paper, by focusing on the construction chain, is to provide a functional-cognitive framework for orienting the use of all the available resources including raw materials, products and by-products but also residues and wastes in order to support national resource efficiency policies, to identify potential actions and to achieve resources efficiency and sustainable waste management within the entire supply chain. A material flow analysis (MFA) has been developed, on a national basis in Italy, and extended to the whole chain of construction and quarrying activities as a tool to develop the cognitive approach using the most recent data on production, sale and import–export, and to establish the potential domestic demand for each product. Waste production, current management and the potential of reuse within the chain have been investigated for several categories of wastes. The potential substitution of raw materials by residues produced in other industrial sectors has been also investigated, identifying their current reuse rate, the potential not yet exploited as well as the operational constrains and the critical issues. From this analysis enormous potentialities emerge for waste valorization and raw material substitutions that nowadays are not adequately exploited. Significant efforts, in term of national policies and strategies are needed to effectively shift towards a full resources management efficiency and circular economy development. © 2018, Springer Nature B.V.

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