Recycled Materials: Advantages and Disadvantages in Construction

This report delves into the utilization of recycled materials within the construction industry, emphasizing their role in sustainable building practices. It begins by highlighting the environmental impact of traditional construction and the increasing need for eco-friendly alternatives. The report explores the advantages of using recycled materials, such as reduced carbon emissions, waste reduction, and cost-effectiveness, while also addressing potential issues like location constraints, funding challenges, and resale difficulties. It covers various aspects of material selection, including availability, ease of installation, durability, and low carbon content. Furthermore, the report examines the current trends in building waste management and the benefits of adopting a cradle-to-grave approach, advocating for the use of recycled materials like insulation, concrete, timber, and steel. The report concludes by emphasizing the importance of selecting materials that maximize productivity, energy efficiency, and environmental sustainability, advocating for a code-based selection approach to benefit the environment, economy, and available natural resources.

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RECYCLED MATERIALS
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Introduction
The built environment is the world’s largest consumption of natural resources since it
accounts for 40% of the extracted materials in the most industrialized countries, with 70% of
electricity tapped from the energy sources, 12% of portable water, and 46%-65% of waste
materials disposed on the landfills (Ameli & Brandt, 2015). This figure is expected to increase
due to high birth rate that is currently experienced in the world lead to high population influx in
our cities. The world population of 6.5 billion recorded in 2005, is expected to increase
drastically to around 9.5 billion in 2035 (Anderson & Shiers, 2009). As a result, the mitigation of
securing the future of our environment due to the impact of buildings is a primary concern that
the world should look into so as not to compromise the future generations.
Given the impact of construction materials have on the building’s sustainability, quality,
risk, procurement, safety, procurement, cost and productivity, their selection is a key to proper
development of building project and is considered to be the main factor affecting the efficiency
and productivity of construction projects. These issues significantly address the appropriate
selection methods for a construction project since deficient or poor choice of materials can lead
to significant losses of productivity on site.
As a result, the recycling of building materials such as insulation material, concrete,
aggregate, timber and steel have gained interest and concern all over the world. The current
trends and practices of building waste management are examined form cradle to grave concept of
the building life cycle. The construction of waste management techniques that depend on
recycled materials have proven to have more economical benefits for the construction industry.
According to Arulrajah, et al. (2012), reuse is the prevention of solid waste from being disposed
on the landfills, and increase the education, material by, making use of materials discarded on the

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environment by people who no longer need them and provide them as inputs for construction. In
most scenarios, the reuse of materials significantly reduce the raw materials for construction to
greater advantage of the developer. Moreover, these practice may reduce the overexploitation of
natural resources in the industrialized countries
In most cases, construction companies find it difficult to manage the information gained
on site that is associated with recycling of materials. Managing such knowledge can be difficult
hence leading to the loss of such innovations since it is regarded as tacit knowledge that is
obtained personal construct theory (Dixit, et al., 2010). This report seek to explore the strategies
used to consider when selecting construction materials, techniques and structural system for
building. Our selected material in these case will be recycled materials such as insulated
materials, timber, steel, concrete, aggregates etc. the report will further address the advantages
and potential issues associated with recycled materials for construction.
When selecting the materials used in construction, it is sustainable to consider the cost,
aesthetic appeal, and availability of the material, low carbon content materials, materials that can
be recycled and reused in abundant supply.
Recyclable materials
According to Bolden, et al. (2013), utilizing materials that can be reused will greatly help in
reducing the production of new materials in the future.

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Availability
Materials chosen for construction should be readily available. Importation of materials on a
building site have the potential risks of delays during the delivery process which may result in
increased costs and projects hold ups.
Ease of installation
Experts suggests that the method and technology involved in installation of building materials
should be considered when choosing materials. As such, builders should not be blinded by the
attractive nature of the material but consider the complications involved during installation.
Durability
The construction materials selected should be able to adapt to the changes in the weather
conditions. Some materials deteriorate in wet environment. Thus, it is essential to consider the
durability of materials for use in construction. Therefore, it is prudent to choose materials that
exhibit low maintenance and replacement so that they can last as long as the building exists.
Low carbon content
Using materials that exhibit low carbon content is very important in achieving net zero energy
home that are more sustainable to the environment. Low carbon materials such as wood have
minimal effect on the environment due to no or less emission of greenhouse gases that are
harmful to the environment.
Recycled material
Recycled materials have proved to be beneficial in the construction of buildings including:

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 Reducing the emission of carbon IV oxide
 Increasing the competitive advantage of the construction firm
 Reducing the raw materials and waste disposal
 Complementing the aspects of eco-design
 Helps in clearly responding to client’s requirement
 Helps in addressing the challenges of the environmental pollution.
 Considered to be more sustainable materials in construction
It can be concluded that the selection of materials for construction plays a very important part in
achieving a more sustainable and green building. It is, therefore, essential to choose materials
that can be fulfil the maximum productivity of the factors discussed above. The materials
selected should be easy to install, with little maintenance and can increase the energy efficiency
of the structure. Developing a code for selection criteria can help save the environment and the
make the efficient use of the economy and the natural resources available.
Advantages of sustainable construction
Healthy residence
Materials that are sustainable are void of toxic substances like carcinogens and mold spores.
Many green construction materials improve air quality inside the rooms. Such materials include
natural wool carpeting and insulation systems that prevent development of molds. No harmful
glues or adhesives are used for lamination. A green home therefore enhances an improvement of
occupants’ health.
Waste reduction

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The major advantage that sustainable materials present to construction is the reduction in wastes
that are generated by human beings. The reason for this is because sustainable construction
makes large use of reclaimed products, hence a lesser need to manufacture new materials and so
saving the little precious resources.
Cost effectiveness
Production of most sustainable materials is done locally. This is advantageous as it means less
shipping expenses and is a good means of helping the local community.
Advanced techniques
Advanced techniques of construction in the modern world are gaining ground in the building of
eco-friendly homes. These techniques importantly address material and labor costs. Construction
is designed to comply with standard building codes and emphasis made towards energy
efficiency. These buildings are therefore affordable, long lasting and with an ease of
maintenance. Advanced framing from wood is a good way to increase sustainability of one’s
house.
Disadvantages of sustainable construction
Location
Location of a construction site plays a major role in establishing feasibility of green building.
Regions that have high humidity levels block certain aspects of green building like straw bale
construction. Regulations and legal restrictions may also discourage construction by certain
materials or tend to influence the building styles.
Funding

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Apart from the initial cost incurred in construction of green building, it may also be difficult to
get a lender offering loans for a non-traditional building. Additionally, a lender might apply
certain restrictions which a builder will find difficult to comply with.
Resale
Since many people are still not knowledgeable about sustainable construction, someone owning
a green building may find it difficult to sell. One may be forced to educate possible buyers on the
qualities of sustainable building. Another challenge that makes it difficult to resale is the high
valuation of a green building as compared to the traditional stick built homes.
References

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Arulrajah, A., Piratheepan, J., Disfani, M.M. and Bo, M.W., 2012. Geotechnical and
geoenvironmental properties of recycled construction and demolition materials in pavement
subbase applications. Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering, 25(8), pp.1077-1088.
Ameli, N. and Brandt, N., 2015. Determinants of households’ investment in energy efficiency
and renewable: evidence from the OECD survey on household environmental behavior and
attitudes. Environmental Research Letters, 10(4), p.044015.
Anderson, J. and Shiers, D., 2009. Green guide to specification. Hoboken, New Jersey, United
States: John Wiley & Sons.
Balzani, V., & Armaroli, N. 2010. Energy for a sustainable world: from the oil age to a sun-
powered future. Hoboken, New Jersey, United States: John Wiley & Sons.
Bolden, J., Abu-Lebdeh, T. and Fini, E., 2013. Utilization of recycled and waste materials in
various construction applications. American Journal of Environmental Science, 9(1), pp.14-24.
Dixit, M. K., Fernández-Solís, J. L., Lavy, S., & Culp, C. H. 2010. Identification of parameters
for embodied energy measurement: A literature review. Energy and Buildings, 42(8), 1238-1247.
Hui, S. C. 2010. Zero energy and zero carbon buildings: myths and facts. In Proceedings of the
International Conference on Intelligent Systems, Structures and Facilities (ISSF2010):
Intelligent Infrastructure and Buildings. Asian Institute of Intelligent Buildings (AIIB).
Safiuddin, M., Jumaat, M.Z., Salam, M.A., Islam, M.S. and Hashim, R., 2010. Utilization of
solid wastes in construction materials. International Journal of Physical Sciences, 5(13),
pp.1952-1963.