Sustainability: How to minimise waste and maximise reuse at a building’s end of life

By Turner & Townsend Alinea 2025-06-12T07:00:00

Source: Shutterstock

Construction accounts for around a third of all waste sent to landfill, much of this at a building’s end of life. How can the industry develop a better approach to deconstruction?

shutterstock_2203087613

Source: Shutterstock

01 / Introduction

The key principles of the circular economy, as set out by the UK Green Building Council in 2019, include maximising reuse and minimising impact and waste. The principles of a circular economy are becoming increasingly embedded in the built environment, with new buildings incorporating recycled materials and components to lower the embodied carbon content of a building and make responsible use of finite resources. However, this raises some questions: where do recycled construction materials come from, and how can the main components of a building be recycled at the end of its life?

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