Environmental Benefits of Post-Use Materials Recovery: A Circular Economy Case Study of a Cross-Laminated Timber Multi-Storey Building In a Life Cycle Perspective
2025 (English)In: Proceedings from the 14th World Conference on Timber Engineering: Advancing Timber for the Future Built Environment, WCTE 2025 / [ed] Rischmiller K., Saleem M.A., Downey C., Gattas J., Hossy D., Ottenhaus L., Wu W., Zhang Y., Yan Z, World Conference on Timber Engineering (WCTE) , 2025, p. 2288-2295Conference paper, Published paper (Refereed)
Sustainable development
SDG 13: Climate action, SDG 14: Life below water
Abstract [en]
Careful selection of construction materials and the efficient management of post-use materials are vital for resource-efficient buildings with lower environmental impacts. This study explores the implications of circular economy practices, entailing efficient post-use materials recovery for reduced environmental impacts of cross-laminated timber (CLT) multi-storey construction. The global warming potential (GWP), acidification potential (AP) and eutrophication potential (EP) of a CLT building are explored in a life cycle perspective, including include all building materials-related activities in the product, construction, end-of-life stages, with a focus on circularity strategies - cascading, reuse, and recycling of post-use building materials. The results show that the building's end-of-life stage represent a significant share of the total life cycle GWP impacts. However, the stage represents a relatively smaller share of the AP and EP impacts. The implementation of circularity significantly reduces the life cycle climate impacts of the building. The end-of-life stage, which represents about 20% of the total material-related GWP impact, can be effectively mitigated through these circularity strategies. Cascading proves to be a better option compared to reuse and recycling, offering a GWP benefit of 70 kgCO<inf>2eq</inf>/m2. Comparatively, the GWP benefit from cascading is 64% and 72% higher than that of the reuse and recycling options, respectively. This study highlights the importance of life cycle perspective and circularity strategies at the end-of-life stage of CLT buildings to reduce environmental impacts. © 2025 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
World Conference on Timber Engineering (WCTE) , 2025. p. 2288-2295
Keywords [en]
circular economy, construction waste, Cross-laminated timber reuse, life cycle environmental benefits, post-use materials, Building materials, Construction, Environmental impact, Environmental management, Intelligent buildings, Life cycle assessment, Recycling, Sustainable development, Timber, Construction wastes, Cross laminated, Environmental benefits, Global warming potential, Laminated timber, Life cycle environmental benefit, Post-use material, Reuse, Global warming, Life cycle
National Category
Construction Management Environmental Management
Research subject
Research Centres, Sustainable Energy Research Centre (SERC)
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:du-51445DOI: 10.52202/080513-0279Scopus ID: 2-s2.0-105010242888ISBN: 9798331320898 (electronic)OAI: oai:DiVA.org:du-51445DiVA, id: diva2:2006120
Conference
14th World Conference on Timber Engineering 2025 (WCTE 2025), 22-26 June 2025, Brisbane, Australia.
2025-10-132025-10-132025-10-15Bibliographically approved