End of life
How many designers consider what will happen to their buildings when they have to be demolished?
Each year, construction and demolition activities in the UK generate around 90 million tonnes of waste. Traditionally, buildings were simply bulldozed and all too often the demolition waste simply landfilled.
Steel, on the other hand, has always been recovered and recycled. Measures such as the landfill and hazardous waste directives and the landfill tax mean that today, landfilling of building waste is no longer acceptable. Instead construction and demolition waste should be thought of as a resource for new applications - not as waste.
When it is impossible, or undesirable, to extend the life of buildings through adaptation or refurbishment and deconstruction is therefore unavoidable, it is important that the end-of-life impacts of buildings are minimised. Principally this involves minimising waste and ensuring that materials are recovered, recycled and reused.
Steel and recycling
By recycling, we contribute to more sustainable development through eliminating or reducing waste and by saving primary resources. Also, recycling some materials, like metals, saves energy since it requires less energy to re-melt scrap than it does to produce new metal from primary resources.
Reuse existing built assets
Reuse of steel construction products offers even greater environmental advantage than recycling. Already some industries, such as the agricultural sector, commonly reuse steel structures and cladding components.
