- Title
- Hazardous building materials threaten circular economy and sustainable outcomes
- Creator
- Vaughan, Josephine; Illankoon, I. M. Chethana S.; Beard, Cameron; Sher, Willy; MacKee, Jamie
- Relation
- Sustainability and Toxicity of Building Materials p. 573-597
- Relation
- Woodhead Publishing Series in Civil and Structural Engineering
- Publisher Link
- http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-323-98336-5.00026-1
- Publisher
- Elsevier
- Resource Type
- book chapter
- Date
- 2024
- Description
- Construction materials can be reused and recycled in many ways to reduce waste and contribute to sustainable construction. While the construction industry is moving toward a sustainable low-carbon future that will see an increase in reused and recycled building materials, buildings that contain hazardous construction materials are difficult to deconstruct for future reuse. To understand the extent that hazardous materials impede inclusion of construction materials in the circular economy, we used a method for calculating value for money, separate to cost, to assess the value found in existing building materials. Using the demolition of the McMullin Building in Newcastle, Australia as a case study, this chapter assesses the differences in value between a hypothetical best potential value of building materials and the actual value of the materials extracted after demolition in the case study scenario. This chapter reports on the demolition process, providing quantities and types of materials recovered, as well as their final outcomes. A value-first approach made it clear reusing existing materials rather than recycling, may have offered multiple beneficial potential value outcomes, including the possibility of reusing materials locally , avoiding waste disposal costs and reducing C02 emissions. Our study shows that the historic use of toxic, hazardous materials in the past impacts our ability to reuse materials today, leading to a broader debate in relation to the materials that we are using today and their longer-term impacts.
- Subject
- construction industry; construction materials; hazardous materials; circular economy; SDG 9; SDG 12; Sustainable Development Goals
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/1959.13/1504423
- Identifier
- uon:55502
- Identifier
- ISBN:9780323983365
- Language
- eng
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