IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v13y2021i2p653-d478717.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Matching Demolition and Construction Material Flows, an Urban Mining Case Study

Author

Listed:
  • Teun Johannes Verhagen

    (Institute of Environmental Sciences, Leiden University, 2333 CC Leiden, The Netherlands)

  • Marijn Louise Sauer

    (Leiden Municipality, 2333 CW Leiden, The Netherlands)

  • Ester van der Voet

    (Institute of Environmental Sciences, Leiden University, 2333 CC Leiden, The Netherlands)

  • Benjamin Sprecher

    (Institute of Environmental Sciences, Leiden University, 2333 CC Leiden, The Netherlands)

Abstract

The recycling of demolition waste is essential to lower the construction sectors primary material demand, responsible for 50% of the global primary material consumption. Almost all demolition waste is used as filler material for the construction of roads, preventing further reuse or recycling after this application. The built environment generates considerable annual material in-and outflows. However, there has been little discussion on the availability and further application of this potential supply of secondary materials as a replacement for primary materials. In this study, we quantify the percentage of demolition waste that can be repurposed as secondary materials in the Dutch construction sector. We analyzed the yearly building material flows for the municipality of Leiden using municipal data on demolition and construction to explore the viability of the Dutch government’s policy goal to reduce primary materials consumption by 50% before 2030. From this analysis, we find that the recycling of demolition waste has a sizable potential but just falls short of the stated policy goal. Even in a situation with more construction than demolition, there will remain a considerable mismatch in the yearly construction material demand and available supply of demolition waste for our municipal-wide case study. More importantly, the current processing of demolition waste in the Netherlands will require significant improvements to achieve this goal. New governmental policies are required to focus on maintaining material quality and allowing further use of recycled materials as buildings materials.

Suggested Citation

  • Teun Johannes Verhagen & Marijn Louise Sauer & Ester van der Voet & Benjamin Sprecher, 2021. "Matching Demolition and Construction Material Flows, an Urban Mining Case Study," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(2), pages 1-14, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:2:p:653-:d:478717
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/2/653/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/2/653/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Mingming Hu & Ester Van Der Voet & Gjalt Huppes, 2010. "Dynamic Material Flow Analysis for Strategic Construction and Demolition Waste Management in Beijing," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 14(3), pages 440-456, June.
    2. Chunbo Zhang & Mingming Hu & Xining Yang & Arianna Amati & Arnold Tukker, 2020. "Life cycle greenhouse gas emission and cost analysis of prefabricated concrete building façade elements," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 24(5), pages 1016-1030, October.
    3. York Ostermeyer & Claudio Nägeli & Niko Heeren & Holger Wallbaum, 2018. "Building Inventory and Refurbishment Scenario Database Development for Switzerland," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 22(4), pages 629-642, August.
    4. Kleijn, René & van der Voet, Ester & Kramer, Gert Jan & van Oers, Lauran & van der Giesen, Coen, 2011. "Metal requirements of low-carbon power generation," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 36(9), pages 5640-5648.
    5. Hiroki Tanikawa & Tomer Fishman & Keijiro Okuoka & Kenji Sugimoto, 2015. "The Weight of Society Over Time and Space: A Comprehensive Account of the Construction Material Stock of Japan, 1945–2010," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 19(5), pages 778-791, October.
    6. Janet L. Reyna & Mikhail V. Chester, 2015. "The Growth of Urban Building Stock: Unintended Lock-in and Embedded Environmental Effects," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 19(4), pages 524-537, August.
    7. T. E. Graedel & Julian Allwood & Jean‐Pierre Birat & Matthias Buchert & Christian Hagelüken & Barbara K. Reck & Scott F. Sibley & Guido Sonnemann, 2011. "What Do We Know About Metal Recycling Rates?," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 15(3), pages 355-366, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Claudio Zandonella Callegher & Gianluca Grazieschi & Eric Wilczynski & Ulrich Filippi Oberegger & Simon Pezzutto, 2023. "Assessment of Building Materials in the European Residential Building Stock: An Analysis at EU27 Level," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(11), pages 1-19, May.
    2. Kinga Rybak-Niedziółka & Agnieszka Starzyk & Przemysław Łacek & Łukasz Mazur & Izabela Myszka & Anna Stefańska & Małgorzata Kurcjusz & Aleksandra Nowysz & Karol Langie, 2023. "Use of Waste Building Materials in Architecture and Urban Planning—A Review of Selected Examples," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(6), pages 1-22, March.
    3. Sultan Çetin & Catherine De Wolf & Nancy Bocken, 2021. "Circular Digital Built Environment: An Emerging Framework," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(11), pages 1-34, June.
    4. Pérez-Sánchez, Laura À. & Velasco-Fernández, Raúl & Giampietro, Mario, 2022. "Factors and actions for the sustainability of the residential sector. The nexus of energy, materials, space, and time use," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 161(C).
    5. Janneke van Oorschot & Benjamin Sprecher & Bart Rijken & Pieter Witteveen & Merlijn Blok & Nico Schouten & Ester van der Voet, 2023. "Toward a low‐carbon and circular building sector: Building strategies and urbanization pathways for the Netherlands," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 27(2), pages 535-547, April.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Jan Streeck & Quirin Dammerer & Dominik Wiedenhofer & Fridolin Krausmann, 2021. "The role of socio‐economic material stocks for natural resource use in the United States of America from 1870 to 2100," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 25(6), pages 1486-1502, December.
    2. Le Boulzec, Hugo & Delannoy, Louis & Andrieu, Baptiste & Verzier, François & Vidal, Olivier & Mathy, Sandrine, 2022. "Dynamic modeling of global fossil fuel infrastructure and materials needs: Overcoming a lack of available data," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 326(C).
    3. Rafaela Tirado & Adélaïde Aublet & Sylvain Laurenceau & Mathieu Thorel & Mathilde Louërat & Guillaume Habert, 2021. "Component-Based Model for Building Material Stock and Waste-Flow Characterization: A Case in the Île-de-France Region," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(23), pages 1-34, November.
    4. Elshkaki, Ayman & Graedel, T.E., 2015. "Solar cell metals and their hosts: A tale of oversupply and undersupply," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 158(C), pages 167-177.
    5. Miatto, Alessio & Schandl, Heinz & Tanikawa, Hiroki, 2017. "How important are realistic building lifespan assumptions for material stock and demolition waste accounts?," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 122(C), pages 143-154.
    6. Dong Yang & Mengyuan Dang & Lingwen Sun & Feng Han & Feng Shi & Hongbo Zhang & Hongjun Zhang, 2021. "A System Dynamics Model for Urban Residential Building Stock towards Sustainability: The Case of Jinan, China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(18), pages 1-23, September.
    7. Yupeng Liu & Jiajia Li & Wei‐Qiang Chen & Lulu Song & Shaoqing Dai, 2022. "Quantifying urban mass gain and loss by a GIS‐based material stocks and flows analysis," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 26(3), pages 1051-1060, June.
    8. Kim, Junbeum & Guillaume, Bertrand & Chung, Jinwook & Hwang, Yongwoo, 2015. "Critical and precious materials consumption and requirement in wind energy system in the EU 27," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 139(C), pages 327-334.
    9. Ruirui Zhang & Jing Guo & Dong Yang & Hiroaki Shirakawa & Feng Shi & Hiroki Tanikawa, 2022. "What matters most to the material intensity coefficient of buildings? Random forest‐based evidence from China," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 26(5), pages 1809-1823, October.
    10. He, Rui-fang & Zhong, Mei-rui & Huang, Jian-bai, 2021. "The dynamic effects of renewable-energy and fossil-fuel technological progress on metal consumption in the electric power industry," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    11. Benjamin Sprecher & Teun Johannes Verhagen & Marijn Louise Sauer & Michel Baars & John Heintz & Tomer Fishman, 2022. "Material intensity database for the Dutch building stock: Towards Big Data in material stock analysis," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 26(1), pages 272-280, February.
    12. Jakob Lederer & Andreas Gassner & Florian Keringer & Ursula Mollay & Christoph Schremmer & Johann Fellner, 2019. "Material Flows and Stocks in the Urban Building Sector: A Case Study from Vienna for the Years 1990–2015," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(1), pages 1-25, December.
    13. Shogo Eguchi, 2017. "Accounting for resource accumulation in Japanese prefectures: an environmental efficiency analysis," Journal of Economic Structures, Springer;Pan-Pacific Association of Input-Output Studies (PAPAIOS), vol. 6(1), pages 1-22, December.
    14. Vincent Moreau & Piero Carlo Dos Reis & François Vuille, 2019. "Enough Metals? Resource Constraints to Supply a Fully Renewable Energy System," Resources, MDPI, vol. 8(1), pages 1-18, January.
    15. Ling Zhang & Qingqing Lu & Zengwei Yuan & Songyan Jiang & Huijun Wu, 2023. "A bottom‐up modeling of metabolism of the residential building system in China toward 2050," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 27(2), pages 587-600, April.
    16. Augiseau, Vincent & Barles, Sabine, 2017. "Studying construction materials flows and stock: A review," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 123(C), pages 153-164.
    17. He, Ruifang & Zhong, Meirui & Huang, Jianbai, 2021. "Technological progress and metal resource consumption in the electricity industry—A cross-country panel threshold data analysis," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 231(C).
    18. Lucia Mancini & Philip Nuss, 2020. "Responsible Materials Management for a Resource-Efficient and Low-Carbon Society," Resources, MDPI, vol. 9(6), pages 1-14, June.
    19. Jing Guo & Tomer Fishman & Yao Wang & Alessio Miatto & Wendy Wuyts & Licheng Zheng & Heming Wang & Hiroki Tanikawa, 2021. "Urban development and sustainability challenges chronicled by a century of construction material flows and stocks in Tiexi, China," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 25(1), pages 162-175, February.
    20. Ren, Kaipeng & Tang, Xu & Wang, Peng & Willerström, Jakob & Höök, Mikael, 2021. "Bridging energy and metal sustainability: Insights from China’s wind power development up to 2050," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 227(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:2:p:653-:d:478717. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.