Urban Mining

There is possibility to re-capture value of materials considered as waste from the local urban landscape through ‘urban mining’. The city is a mine and therefore a source of raw materials. Embracing the process of recovering and reusing a city’s raw material stock helps preserve urban landscapes. Extracting waste from the existing building stock in the locality which is due for demolition will provide resource for new building projects and reduce dependence on raw materials. 

This is based on four pillars of design: 

1. Intelligent design which incorporates recycling throughout the process 

2. Mineral resource maps which document thorough searching for materials 

3. Methods for finding, assessing and extracting raw materials 

4. New technologies for recovery of raw materials - used in small quantities and not able to be profitably recycled 

Second-hand items such as doors, light fittings, sanitary ware and worktops can be sourced through salvage yards and second hand websites - at County Hall, light fittings from an industrial factory in Yugoslavia now hang over breakout tables and cisterns from the old Lord’s cricket ground are fitted in toilets. The worktops on the kitchen island were reclaimed from a school science lab in Hertfordshire. 

On a more generic basis there is possibility to reclaim bricks for residential extensions to terraced houses in London, reclaim stone which has been discarded through demolition works and flooring can be salvaged from old sports centres or warehouses. Windows and doors are extensively available at reclamation yards which are simple to refurbish or refit and can be planed down to size if necessary. 

By diverting materials from landfill, the carbon emitted through processing a new resource is re-directed and reduced and its innate environmental value saved. The financial benefit of this is creating value in materials which many would consider waste or of little value and challenges this perception.

References

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Blok, Merlijn (2024) From Buildings to Resources: The Role of Urban Mining in Circular Cities. Available at: https://www.metabolic.nl/news/urban-mining-and-circular-construction/ [last accessed 26th September 2024].