Build Magazine December 2015

Build Magazine 52 he construction industry is producing one third of the UK’s total waste every year, or 120 million tonnes, according to the Construction Recycling Alliance. In a time of increasing resource scarcity, the ‘pro- duce-consume-dispose’ approach is too wasteful a model to follow. The construction industry has noted this, adopting the ‘reduce-reuse-recycle-dis- pose’ method but this might not be enough. An enormous amount of waste still ends up in land- fill, and according to the Environment Agency the construction industry is responsible for 32% of total landfill waste. It’s not just the environment that’s suffering; linear resource use affects the balance books of construction companies, accounting for two to three per cent of the cost of construction, according to a study conducted by Network Waste. A circular economy potentially has some of the answers. It works like this: a manufacturer uses al- most entirely reclaimed materials to make a product at the beginning of its life, and then the product is 100 per cent reclaimed and starts the journey again – closing the loop with full recycling at both ends. But there remains one astronomical hurdle obstructing the perfect circular economy; most materials deteriorate in quality after first use and cannot always be used safely in another build. The miracle mineral There is one material, however that is endlessly recyclable and can be diverted 100% from landfill; gypsum. Gypsum is a mineral used to make plaster that’s found in abundance in either its natural crystallised form or as a by-product of flue-gas desulphurisation. It’s one of the oldest construction materials still in use today, with its discovery being traced back to Asia in the ninth century BCE. Gypsum’s most unique asset is that it’s one of very few natural substances known to man that can be recycled again and again without its quality being affected, making it the perfect material to work within the circular economic model. The campaign EU Life+, the EU’s funding instrument which supports environmental and climate action, has funded the Gypsum to Gypsum project since 2013 to transform the way contractors use and recycle gypsum. Gypsum to Gypsum is proposing the European construction industry adopts a circular economic model for the processing of gypsum through its life-cycle. This alternative economic model for gypsum reduces environmental damage by ensuring the resource is used to its maximum potential and for the longest time possible rather than mining for virgin mate- rial after every build. This is also beneficial for businesses; sending gypsum to landfill is a costly process due to the regulations surrounding it, recycling is a much cheaper option. In theory… Recycling gypsum at the end of the process may be cost effective, but against the backdrop of plastic recycling taking a massive hit with the drop in oil prices, it’s difficult to believe that at the beginning of the process, buying and using recycled gypsum could be cheaper than importing its freshly quarried counterpart. But due to the limited availability of locally mined gypsum, using recycled gypsum, avoiding high transport and shipping costs, can be more cost effective for manufacturers. Not only is gypsum an exception to the degradation rule, it’s also an extremely versatile mineral, which has other uses besides plasterboard and plaster manufacture. These include the creation of plaster casts and other orthopaedic moulds and splints, as a fertiliser for soil improvement, in beer brewing for water treatment, in Portland cement; and as a food additive, amongst other things. Demolish Demolition; Construct Deconstruction UK Construction is facing ever increasing pressure to become more sustainable. Widespread use of the linear resource eco- nomic model, produce-consume-dispose, is not the answer, so is a circular economy really possible? T