Demolition waste management and design for deconstruction

Abstract

This thesis presents a systematic approach to the state-of-the-art in the demolition waste management field, by collecting information from the current related literature and by interviewing architects and waste management researchers.<br />The construction industry during the last decades has realized that the gradual depletion on natural resources should be seriously taken into consideration and the huge amount of demolition waste, disposed as useless on landfills, should be recycled and reused, so that environmental protection is achieved.<br />The second chapter present the technology we have on our disposal to separate the mixed demolition debris into aggregates of different materiality, which will be later recycled, incinerated or disposed in landfills. Toxic waste is isolated and treated separately. In the third chapter it is stated that the most sustainable way to deal with the waste problem, is the reuse of building components after the end of the building 's lifecycle. Reuse saves on raw materials, cost and energy. The principles of Design for Deconstruction are presented in this chapter. It is an innovative design approach, which aims to turn all the material input during the construction into a reusable for other purposes material stream after deconstruction. The thesis concludes by pointing out that the state, the public and the architectural community should collaborate on a European level for the establishment of standardized methods applying deconstruction and encouraging the use of recovered materials.