Recycling construction materials

Incorporating recycled materials into construction projects

Guide

There are many business benefits of using recycled materials in your construction project, including:

  • reducing material and waste disposal costs
  • increasing your competitive advantage
  • reducing your CO2 emissions
  • meeting your planning requirements
  • complementing other aspects of eco-design
  • responding to and pre-empting changes in public policy, such as increases in Landfill Tax
  • responding to client requirements

You could incorporate the following types of recycled materials into your construction projects:

You could also consider using reclaimed products and reusing materials in your construction projects.

You can propose to use more recycled materials:

Steps to consider when you incorporate recycled materials into your construction project include:

  • requirements - the client sets the requirements for how much recycled content they would like to be used in the project
  • generic options for improvement - the design team estimates the amount of recycled content likely to be used
  • specific options for the project - refinement of recycled content figures and review of quick wins (recycled materials)
  • selection - choosing quick wins which will be used in the project
  • delivery - the delivery of quick wins to be used in the project
  • reporting - providing the evidence that the recycled content requirement set by the client has been met