Applications can take place in various scales, e.g.:

• Using local recycled materials (concrete, bricks, steel);

• Re-use of building parts in construction (parts of walls, windows, construction);

• Recycling waste materials (for urban landscaping, furniture, paving).

Challenges and context

The use of recycled materials in the building industry has been implemented in several ways in recent years, but it seems that most of the applications are either individual projects or industrial applications. Some architectural examples are: Resource Rows – a multi-family housing in Copenhagen (Lendager Group, 2019), which used recycled bricks and surplus wood; Upcycle Studios – townhouses in Copenhagen (Lendager Group, 2019); or a social centre in London built with recycled materials from the Olympics held there (LYN Atelier, 2013). Industrial examples include recycled concrete (ERC-tech, www.erc-tech.eu) or pilot EU projects (SeRaMCo). Individual architectural examples demonstrate the potential but may be difficult to replicate. The industrial applications, on the other hand, require extensive transportation of the materials, which are mostly concrete and paving materials. The challenge therefore is how to promote the sustainable use of construction and demolition waste materials in the building sector at the local level.

How can the challenge be tackled?

• Promoting the use of recycled materials for non-critical structural applications;

• Combining the use of recycled materials within the framework of existing social and environmental objectives of businesses and municipalities;

• Producing usable intermediates;

• Hipsterising (Upcycling of C&D waste materials) – making the re-use of construction and demolition waste materials trendy and desirable for the image of new spaces, in line with the notions of recycling, industrial spaces, etc.

Examples

• Used construction and demolition waste materials for pavement materials mix and paver blocks. The private sector’s eco-design innovation initiatives of C&D waste in Thailand, e.g., recycled plastic road (asphalt concrete mixture that used about three metric tons of plastic waste) located in Grand Bangkok Boulevard, Amata Industrial Estate, and a road in Rayong Industrial Estate by Siam Cement Group and DOW.

• Making construction and demolition waste materials available in the market / waste exchange centre (e.g., Rotor Deconstruction, rotordc.com).

• Bangkok Metropolitan Administration have facilities for C&D wastes at On-nut, Bangkok operating free of charge for concrete waste recycling. BMA involvement for promoting sustainable use of C&D waste materials to promote to contractors in BMA and sends their waste to the recycling processing facility at On-nut.

• Madaster platform – a tool that allows tracking of the consumption and location of materials for future reuse (madaster.com/platform).

• Identifying various strategies for the use of recycled materials at various stages of the development and various scales (ARUP Circular Economy and the Built Environment, 2016).

Policy recommendations

• Formulating policy instruments on incentives and disincentives for construction companies in urban settings, e.g., exemptions and incentives for better uptake and maintaining competitiveness, as well as fines on littering in the promotion of C&D recycling and circularity. Urging practitioners to commit using construction and demolition waste materials in selected applications.

• Drawing up a handbook on the possible uses of construction and demolition waste materials (“hip handbook” – to make people want to use them).

• Creating measures for awareness raising and capacity building for construction companies and local authorities on green building and circularity of construction materials.

• Embedding circularity in the city’s building permit requirements/building by laws.

• Linking the circular economy approach in the building sector to specific funding sources, e.g., EU Just Transition Mechanism

• Promoting model implementations of Circular Economy approaches: from recycling materials in the construction of buildings and public space, through new processes and regional supply chains, to education and fostering sustainable lifestyles of the local community.