Secondary Materials in the Building Sector – Energy and Material Flows

Abstract

The recycling of construction and demolition waste is an important step-stone towards the achievement of resource conservation and the reduction of environmental impacts through construction. To this end, the recycling of construction waste usually is considered from a mass perspective. But it is necessary to add an energy perspective to the production of secondary raw materials in order to develop environmental sound solutions and to reveal likely conflicts between environmental objectives. It is not yet clear how to implement such a combined analysis. Therefore, the aim is to develop an orientation framework that integrates the mass and energy perspective of recycling in the construction industry. The paper presents differences and specific particularities of building product groups and answers the following question: What is the energy expenditure associated with the sorting and processing of construction and demolition waste and what is a suitable basis for comparing the various options for the use of recycling materials?