Reuse materials and equipment (and facilitate future re-use)
9.2 Reuse materials and equipment (and facilitate future re-use)
Reuse is the efficient use of waste products without the need for further processing.
Refurbishment is the best example of the reuse of a building.
Examples of possible reuse in terms of construction and demolition waste include the following building items:
Whole timber components such as floorboards, rafters and doors.
Construction materials which have been unused such as bricks, timber, plasterboard, metal and plastic components.
Bricks (the use of hydraulic lime mortars in buildings and walls built before the 1940s means that these bricks can be easily reclaimed.)
Tiles, slates (although damage to the slates is possible) and copings.
Antique articles such as fireplaces and wooden beams, floorboards and sanitation ware. (Approximately 1500 enterprises within the UK currently specialise in architectural salvage.)
Steel girders if removed with care may be reused or the steel can be recycled.
Sanitary ware and other components.
Unwanted furniture and fixings can either be reused in-house or given to charities which collect and redistribute these items for reuse.