Circular Demolition: 90% Material Reuse in Urban Redevelopment

Abstract

The redevelopment of cities is also gaining the concepts of a circular economy to help minimize the environmental footprint, and to increase the amount of material reuse. This paper examines the phenomenon of circular demolition which has been characterized as the tactical deconstruction of buildings aimed at reusing at least 90 percent of the construction material second hand. Centrally looking into three redevelopment areas in city of Mumbai, India the study integrates a hybrid approach of on-site audits of all demolition waste, lifecycle material analysis of the materials reclaimed and the tracking of the materials through geospacial tracking. Building before 1980s had the highest material recovery due to greater supply of recyclable steel and fired bricks but more trouble was with recent buildings with their use of the composite materials. GIS-enabled traceability was used to illustrate the circular combination of the demolition process and to keep track of major materials like concrete, steel, and timber into secondary use markets. The findings indicate that an average of 89.3 percent by weight of the demolition wastes may be reused or recycled exceeding the national present standards. It is important to note that in redevelopment projects with reintroduced recovered materials on site up to 42 percent carbon emission savings were achieved. In this research, a scalable circular demolition model based on material passports, policy incentives, and reverse logistics systems is also suggested to enable low-carbon urban transformation. The results would help policy makers, architects, and contractors make resource efficient urban regeneration.