Government actions are hindering reclamation of building materials and causing a decline in the amount that is reused, a new report says.

Pushing reuse, a report by Salvo for BioRegional, recommends that the Government take on a ‘reuse champion’ to push for change and make reclamation a higher priority, in line with its own policies. It says that recycling has grown significantly, as it has had government support, despite being a less sustainable solution.

Jonathan Essex, reclaimed materials manager at BioRegional, said: “Pushing reuse clearly shows the benefits that reuse brings over recycling. For example, if we reclaimed 50% of reusable iron and steel, the carbon savings would be equivalent to taking 29,000 cars off the road – and that’s for just two materials. Yes, reclamation is currently more labour intensive than recycling which makes it more expensive, but it creates green jobs and products that often have a higher value than recycled – for instance reclaimed bricks are worth much more than bricks recycled into aggregate”.

The report says a ‘reuse champion’ would direct investment into making reclamation quicker, safer and cheaper, and promote the benefits of reuse to a wider audience.

It says the Government also needs to invest in storage and reprocessing capacity for construction materials being reused, and prioritise reuse above recycling by paying per tonne of material diverted from landfill to reuse, as it currently does to WRAP for waste recycled rather than landfilled.

Simple policy options could also help promote reuse, the report says. Planning Policy Statements for local authorities should support reuse, with reuse targets set on a local scale and temporary storage for reclaimed materials also made available locally, it says.

On a wider scale, it also suggests that construction materials be included in the EU Emissions Trading Scheme, to incentivise reuse.

http://www.bioregional.com/news-views/publications/pushing-reuse
http://www.bioregional.com/files/publications/PushingReuse.pdf  

Sustainable Building is publishing a supplement on waste reuse and recycling in the new year. Details can be found at http://www.brownfieldbriefing.com/waste-and-recycling