Building material stock analysis is critical for effective circular economy strategies: a comprehensive review

Abstract

Buildings account for the largest share of accumulated materials and waste. Tracking material composition, quantity, and location of these materials, known as building material stock analysis (MSA), is a first step enabling the reuse or repurposing of materials, key strategies of the circular economy. While the number of building MSAs is growing, there is a need to coalesce methods, data, and scope. Therefore, in this work, we reviewed and evaluated 62 journal and conference articles on MSA of buildings from different angles including scope, boundaries, archetype classification, material intensity determination, approaches (i.e., bottom-up, top-down, remote sensing), and quantity of materials to identify barriers, gaps, and opportunities of the area along with its implications on decision making, policy, and regulations. We cataloged the three major approaches of MSAs and discussed their advantages and shortcomings. We also created a comprehensive directory of building archetypes, references, and materials for future researchers. Most of the studies expectedly estimated that concrete had the largest mass compared to other materials; however, mass-based distribution of materials showed significant variations in different building stocks across the world. Also, embedded plastics and their types remained under-represented in current studies. A major barrier to MSA is related to lack of physical attributes, GIS, design, and construction data. Policy makers can play a role in mitigating data barriers through instituting regulations, which enforce reporting building-related data during permitting process. Furthermore, outcomes of building MSA can help policy makers in considering incentives for design and construction that utilize these abundant building materials.

Circular Economy and Buildings as Material Banks in Mitigation of Environmental Impacts from Construction and Demolition Waste

“…Regarding the type of building, of the studies that applied methods that required this classification, 36.4% evaluated residential buildings, 45.5% residential and non-residential, and 4.5% only non-residential, data that are similar to the results obtained by Mohammadiziazi and Bilec (2022) [62], in which 50% of the articles evaluated residential constructions. However, the authors highlight the importance of evaluating data for non-residential buildings, since they have a shorter useful life and, consequently, end up generating a greater amount of waste.…”

“…To operationalize this process, according to Mohammadiziazi and Bilec (2022) [62], the use of GIS softwares allows companies to manage demolitions, logistics, and commercialization of these materials. In a future scenario, manufacturers themselves could track, monitor, and perform reverse logistics for these construction products.…”

“…When evaluating the stock of materials, distinguishing according to function (structural or non-structural) is relevant to better managing whether the resource will be available throughout the useful life of the building or only at the end [62]. Regarding structural systems, Bertin et al (2020) [41] proposed a management system for reuse, in which the structural engineer can consult the elements available for reuse when designing a new building based on the required resistance parameters.…”

On the Potential of District-Scale Life Cycle Assessments of Buildings

“…Furthermore, the current archetype approach cannot fully diminish the lack of data in LCA [82]. Even more so, current data deficiencies complicate the definition of accurate district LCA archetypes [83]. To overcome such deficiencies and to synchronise various data sources, Fnais et al [84] suggest the development of a common data model for dynamic BIM, GIS, and LCA data with the inclusion of data semantics and information about the temporal development of material flows and environmental indicators.…”

Component-Level Residential Building Material Stock Characterization Using Computer Vision Techniques

“…The state-of-the-art techniques for acquiring building stock information can be aptly classified into three distinct approaches: ,, top-down, bottom-up, and remote sensing. The top-down approach involves viewing target objects as a complete system with the material stock being equivalent to the mass balance of inflow and outflow within the system.…”