Developing a closed loop industrial network for sustainable construction

Curran, Anthony, Williams, Ian, Kent, Andrew and Lambourne, Martyn (2012) Developing a closed loop industrial network for sustainable construction. In Proceedings of Crete 2012: 3rd International Conference on Industrial and Hazardous Waste Management.

Abstract

The ‘ZeroWIN’ (Towards Zero Waste in Industrial Networks – www.zerowin.eu)
project is investigating innovative approaches and strategies for preventing waste in Europe. This paper presents UK case study evidence of how development of an industrial network can contribute to achieving resource efficient construction. A series of improvements and innovations are presented to reduce resource use and close the loop on material flows so that materials are reclaimed and reused or recycled, and in turn inputs contain high recycled content and reduced embodied impacts. The principal pre-requisites for achieving these improvements are the ability to specify input materials, and segregation of materials on-site to enable their optimal reuse or recycling via the network. Barriers to further improvements are discussed; the key challenge to bringing about widespread implementation of the identified improvements will be the willingness of the decision makers to make the effort, take the time, and ultimately bear some extra cost to construct buildings with reduced environmental impact.

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Contributors

Author: Ian Williams

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