Ver 1.0 (May 23)
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Countries that historically took the world’s recycling have stopped in a bid to reduce pollution locally, this means developed countries can no longer export waste and have a waste surplus
The Waste Hierarchy
Recycling has its place in the circular economy. Still, the waste hierarchy and how the building sector applies it must be rethought to establish when recycling becomes part of a circular economy.
As described in the EU Waste Framework Directive (9) in 1975, the waste hierarchy ranks waste management options according to what is right for the environment. After prevention, it asks us to prioritise reuse and recycle over recovery and disposal. Today, many organisations globally have adopted the waste hierarchy, keeping the same purpose of diverting waste from landfills.
The building and construction sector broadly promotes the role of recycling and diversion from landfill. A focus on recycling can be managed in isolation from an overall project — it can be costed separately and tracked easily. Additionally, obtaining data on recycling from the waste stakeholders is simpler than engaging with a wide range of upstream stakeholders involved in reducing and reusing materials. Unfortunately, this approach is at the expense of equally, if not more, critical principles of reduce and reuse, even though solutions exist. There needs to be a mindset change.
At CBRE, our zero waste hierarchy takes an upstream approach to solving the waste issue while maximising positive environmental and social impacts. It considers the wider systemic benefits that a circular economy approach can have on the environment and local communities by reducing material extraction, keeping materials in use and creating jobs in local communities to reuse, repurpose and refurbish materials.
Zero waste will need to be accompanied by data to measure the impact of reduce and reuse and accelerate the transition to a circular economy for space fit-outs. Measuring a fit-out’s carbon emissions, material use, job creation, cost savings and other data points will support organisations within the sector to take informed actions.
Going zero waste to tackle emissions linked to building fit-outs
It’s also important not to ignore the value of embodied carbon as companies look to reduce the amount of indirect greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions linked to the purchase of products and services. That’s why addressing the built environment as a whole — and not just looking at direct emissions from buildings — is critical.
Due to the high turnover of material use in building fit-outs throughout the life of a building, collaboration from the various stakeholders across the value chain of a fit-out project will enable the maximum impact for the sector. Going zero waste — from linear to circular recycling — during design, procurement and strip-out will support the reduction of emissions associated with waste and material use. This will not only decrease the negative environmental impacts from the built environment, but it will also benefit businesses and local communities.
CBRE’s Decarbonisation Guide helps customers with decarbonising their real estate portfolios across Scopes 1, 2 and 3.
References
(1) https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20211215-the-buildings-made-from-rubbish
(2) https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10124803/1/2021%2001%20%20PhD%20Thesis%20_JMCA.pdf
(3) https://www.architectsjournal.co.uk/news/opinion/when-it-comes-to-office-fit-outs-the-circular-economy-is-a-no-brainer
(4) https://www.c40.org/what-we-do/scaling-up-climate-action/waste-management/
(5) https://zerowastecities.eu/job-creation-potential-of-zero-waste-approaches/
(6) https://www.steelcase.com/eu-en/research/articles/topics/sustainability/ecoservices-circular-steelcase-new-economic-model/
(7) https://www.hermanmiller.com/better-world/sustainability/repurpose-program/
(8) https://www.saint-gobain-glass.co.uk/en-gb/glass-recycling-saint-gobain#:~:text=Our%20cullet%20scheme%20recycles%20in,waste%20glass%20from%20landfill%20sites
(9) https://ec.europa.eu/environment/green-growth/waste-prevention-and-management/index_en.htm