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Commercial Properties Could Provide Materials for Reuse and Reduce Landfill Waste
Urban mining is a way to reuse valuable materials instead of sending them to landfill. And it’s a concept that’s quickly gaining popularity.
1 Min Read
London is creating a new market for recycling and reusing materials by re-fitting some of the city’s older buildings. For example, when the UK Green Building Council revamped its head office, it reused or repurposed 98 percent of the office’s original fixtures.
This concept, often referred to as urban mining, is a way to reuse valuable materials instead of sending them to landfill. And it’s a concept that’s quickly gaining popularity.
The Guardian has more:
Out with the old, in with the new: that’s the basic template for office refurbishments. Not if you’re a champion of sustainable building. So when the the UK Green Building Council decided its central London head office needed a makeover, it set itself the challenge of working out what it could keep.
Some of the furnishings and fittings just needed a little sprucing up; others required a bit more creativity. So the whiteboards in the new meeting room are actually repurposed glazing, while the comfy window bench is made from old timber.
“We have managed to reuse or repurpose 98% of the original fixtures on this project,” says Julie Hirigoyen, the Green Building Council’s chief executive, who describes minimising the need for new products and avoiding waste as “core principles” of sustainable refurbishment.
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