Building From Waste

”Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, and Recover“ is the sustainable guideline that has replaced the ”Take, Make, Waste“ attitude of the industrial age. Based on their background at the ETH Zurich and the Future Cities Laboratory in Singapore, the authors provide both a conceptual and practical look into materials and products which use waste as a renewable resource. This book introduces an inventory of current projects and building elements, ranging from marketed products, among them façade panels made of straw and self-healing concrete, to advanced research and development like newspaper, wood or jeans denim used as isolating fibres. Going beyond the mere recycling aspect of reused materials, it looks into innovative concepts of how materials usually regarded as waste can be processed into new construction elements. The products are organized along the manufacturing processes: densified, reconfigured, transformed, designed and cultivated materials. A product directory presents all materials and projects in this book according to their functional uses in construction: load-bearing, self-supporting, insulating, waterproofing and finishing products.

Water, sanitary and waste services represent a substantial proportion of the cost of construction, averaging 10% of the capital costs of building and with continuing costs in operation and maintenance. Nevertheless, they are often regarded as a 'Cinderella' within the building process. Parts of many different codes and regulations impact on these services, making an overall viewpoint more difficult to get. This new edition of this classic text draws together material from a variety of sources to provide the comprehensive coverage not available elsewhere. It is a resource for the sound design, operation and maintenance of these services and should be on the bookshelf of every building services engineer and architect.

Construction and Demolition Waste (CDW), from the construction, maintenance, renovation and demolition of buildings and structures, represents a large proportion of the waste in industrialized societies. Compared to other forms, such as household waste, more than 90% of CDW can be used as a resource and a substitute for construction materials, especially for primary, natural raw materials. Reuse, recovery and recycling depends on the quality and market for the materials, and the environmental impact of the processes for conversion of CDW from old structures to its use in new structures. However, the utilization today of CDW products as secondary resources is marginal. Most CDW is deposited or used as fill material, and the opportunities of high quality recycling are generally neglected. This book presents the opportunities for the sustainable and resource efficient utilisation of CDW, focusing on recycling of concrete and masonry as the major forms of CDW. The recycling of gypsum, timber, mineral wool, asphalt and other types are also described. Its aim is to present a chain of value and material streams in the transformation of obsolete buildings and structures into new buildings and structures. It takes a holistic view, focusing on the lifecycle economy (the circular economy) and integrated management aspects of various scenarios ranging from high industrial urban renewal to debris removal and management after disasters and conflicts. It is based on the author ́s 35 years of research and development combined with practical international experience within the demolition and recycling area. It addresses students, architects, civil engineers, building owners, public authorities and others working in urban planning, demolition and resource management in the building and construction sector and in the reconstruction of damaged buildings after disasters and wars.

How someone else's waste can become the next designer's building material.

First Published in 2006. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

Architecture and design currently play a minor role in the design and construction of industrial building types, especially waste-to-energy facilities. Through comparing the well-established waste-to-energy industries in Sweden with less established engagements in the northeast of the United States, opportunities and lessons are revealed. This book presents a refreshed, design-led approach to waste-to-energy (WTE) plants, reflecting work done at Harvard University Graduate School of Design (GSD). Architecture and design currently play a minor role in the design and construction of industrial building types, especially waste-to-energy facilities. Architects have a role to play in integrating waste-to-energy plants physically and programmatically within their urban or suburban contexts, as well as potentially lessening the generally negative perception of energy recovery plants.

This volume presents the proceedings of the International Conference on The Science and Engineering of Recycling for Environmental Protection (WASCON 2000), of which a number of themes have been identified. All are inter-related and inter-dependent in so far as potential users of secondary, recovered or recycled material have to be assured that the material is environmentally safe and stable. It is the environmental challenge that forms a leading theme for the conference, and the themes of quality assurance and quality control support this aspect. In terms of use of 'recovered' materials, science and engineering play important and inter-dependent roles and this is reflected in themes which form the very core of the conference. Of no less importance is control of land contamination and how we propose to model for the long term impact of our aims. However dutiful and competent our ideas and studies, there has to be a measure of control and the role of legislation forms the final theme of WASCON 2000. The breadth of studies being undertaken world-wide and the innovative ideas that are expressed in papers submitted are worthy of this important subject. It is also interesting to note that papers were offered from 30 countries, a sign of the increasing awareness of the need to preserve our natural resources and utilize to the full those with which we are more familiar. This book will contribute to the understanding of and solution of environmental problems concerning the re-use of waste materials in construction.

The construction industry is the largest single waste producing industry in the UK. Ensuring a supply chain of recycled materials affords many potential gains, achieved through: reducing the material volume transported to already over-burdened landfill sites, possible cost reductions to the contractor/client when considering the landfill tax saved and the potential for lower cost material replacements, a reduction in the environmental impact of quarrying and the saving of depleting natural material resources. Reuse of Materials and Byproducts in Construction: Waste Minimization and Recycling addresses use of waste and by products in the construction industry. An over view of new “green” design guides to encourage best practice will be examined and current legislation that channels on site practices, such as site waste management plans. Fundamental individual construction materials are discussed and the process of reforming by products and waste products into new construction materials is investigated, examining the material performance, energy required to convert waste into new products and viability of recycling. The main range of constructional materials will be examined. Aimed at postgraduate students, lecturers and researchers in construction and civil engineering, the book will also be of interest to professional design practices.