WHAT YOU CAN AND CAN’T RECYCLE IN CONSTRUCTION

Tackling any construction project can either done responsibly or irresponsibly. Whether you’re renovating your personal dwelling or you’re involved in planning the erection of a brand new office block in Melrose Arch, knowing how to reduce the carbon footprint can have a meaningful impact on both your savings and the environment. Wastefulness with building materials runs parallel to wastefulness with funding, after all!

Sustainability has been the most important design influence in the architecture of our century – for good reason. Setting the trend of future construction has been deliberated by top architects and city planners, and they all arrived at the same conclusion – we need to build more sparingly. That’s why there’s more to consider when it comes to sustainability and what it means for the construction industry.

Seeing the brand new Paragon buildings spring up in and around Johannesburg are testaments of their sustainability best-practice. Hopefully, they can persuade us that they’re great for the environment and that true sustainability goes deeper than simply building energy efficient structures with expensive building materials!

Real sustainability starts by sourcing low-impact or even recycled building materials. Recycled aggregates can easily be acquired through trusted brick and cement suppliers. Using recycled material also means that your bank account and your surrounding area will be indebted to you and your consideration for them both

Recycled materials come in all forms: steel, aluminium, plasterboard, timber, concrete, almost all types of glass, carpet, bricks and tiles and even plastics can all be repurposed for other projects. Similarly, using construction materials that have been reclaimed from old construction sites drastically reduces the need for high-waste production procedures that created them in the first place.

The next time you’re busy with planning ground pavements, involved in any type of earthwork projects or are laying the foundations of your new dwelling, give some thought to whether you’re using materials responsibly!