Circular demolition process

Abstract

The demolition activities produce a huge amount of waste that have negative effects on the environment. In the current demolition practices, most of the waste are recycled or landfilled. Only a small percentage is retrieved and reused again. Reuse is preferred than recycling since it better for the environment. To increase the reuse, more materials need to become available from the demolition activities. To current demolition process does not enable the retrieval of components and materials for reuse since they are damaged in the process, and the demolition contractors don’t make an effort to retrieve them properly. This thesis investigated the demolition process and how its steps and the actors involved could affect the reuse potential of components and materials in the building industry. To find answers, literature study, a case study and expert interviews with frontrunners were used. The best practices from the Netherlands were taken as an input in order to develop the new process. Based on the findings, a flowchart of the new demolition process is developed, and recommendations are given to the actors involved. Changes are proposed in the five stages (tender, audit, planning, execution, materials handling) of the demolition process and to the actors involved. Sustainability tender criteria, site visits, detailed inventory, buyers through the network, deconstruction, separation in different material streams are some of the changes that need to be made. By adopting the proposed changes the actors involved could retrieve a lot more components and material from the demolition sites and provide them for reuse.