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What is urban mining?
What is urban mining?
Urban mining sees existing buildings as a mine full of valuable resources, ready to be extracted for a second life. This is via selective demolition and recovery of products and materials for reuse or recycling.
The construction sector can play a leading role in urban mining: in Flanders alone, the sector produces 15 million tons or 8.3 million cubic metres of construction and demolition waste every year. That's the equivalent of 40 times the Empire State Building.
Study by the Living Lab Circular Construction
Urban mining can make a huge difference in the transition to a circular economy. How to strengthen the potential in the construction and demolition industry? This question was the starting point for a study by the Living Lab Circular Construction, a scientific consortium that makes policy and practical recommendations based on research and experiences in the field.
You can read the results in the report 'Urban Mining of Buildings. Creating value through closing material streams.' Prefer the bite-sized summary? You can also find these below.
Urban mining in practice
There is huge diversity when it comes to buildings. What material flows can you expect when you dismantle buildings? We took the test and examined a number of building sites. We compiled the results of the experiment in practical sheets - in words and images.
Sales channels for construction and demolition waste
In recent years, more and more material producers, recyclers and other organisations have been working to provide a sales channel for various material streams. An overview of these materials and sales channels can be found via the action button: