The Circular Economy & Construction: How Your Company Can Participate

The Circular Economy & Construction: How Your Engineering Company Can Participate in The Sustainable Shift Toward a Circular Economy

The Circular Economy

In a Circular Economy, there is no such thing as waste. A circular economy strives to reduce, reuse, remanufacture, and recycle all resources. This idea challenges the way resources are used currently and promotes environmental and economic sustainability. According to a 2020 report by the United Nations Industrial Development Organization, a circular economy helps sustainable development by extending product lifespans and relocating waste from the end of the supply chain back to the beginning. 

The Current Model

A stark contrast to the Circular Economy, a Linear Economy has been the popular economic model for the past several decades. Regarding the Linear Economy, the Circular Innovation Council explains that in this model resources are taken from the earth, made into products, and then used until they are disposed of as waste. Researchers Núñez-Cacho et al. point out that in the 20^th century, the construction industry began to adopt more resilient and durable materials, which in turn caused a dramatic increase in waste generation. 

Circular Economy Strategies

So how can your business participate in the shift toward a Circular Economy? Adopting circular economy practices must begin from the top down to be successful. Research from the Institution of Civil Engineers shows that embracing the holistic practices of a circular economy and applying them throughout your products’ lifecycle is imperative for sustainability. This can be done through reducing, reusing, remanufacturing, and recycling.

Reduce

The obvious way to become more resource efficient is to use less of the resource from the start. Engineers are typically expected to be efficient with designs. However, the emphasis is on strictly cost efficiency. A 2019 report by Newsweek Vantage explains that this reduction strategy must shift to emphasize the resources used to produce a design rather than the costs associated with the design.

Reuse

Structural specifications will enforce deep consideration when it comes to reusing materials, but the World Steel Association affirms that steel components such as structural beams, roofing, and wall elements have been embraced for reuse. If a product cannot be reused it can be outsourced to another firm to be used for a different product.

Remanufacture

Newsweek Vantage summed it up best: “In today’s fast-moving, throw-away economy, products are often discarded before the end of their useful life”. When a product can no longer serve its current purpose, it can be remanufactured into a new product. As per the World Steel Association, this is feasible when a product such as steel is designed to easily be disassembled and developed into a new product.

Recycle

When a product is seemingly ready to be disposed of, it is always better to find a way to recycle it. Recycling is the last resort to keep a product inside the circular economy loop, reusing and remanufacturing should be exhausted first. An example of recycling in construction is utilizing recycled concrete aggregates instead of primary concrete aggregates. In a 2021 article for the Journal of Cleaner Production, Yu et al. note that recycling these concrete aggregates not only minimizes waste disposal, but it also prevents primary resource depletion.

The Opportunity

The trend towards a circular economy is an important opportunity and it is a necessary shift for the industry to mitigate the contribution to climate change. The Circular Economy is not only an environmental opportunity, but also a chance for firms to capitalize on a meaningful and desirable business strategy.