The current construction process is linear: new buildings are made from raw materials extracted from the earth and processed into products. This process consumes a significant amount of energy. Separate from all of this, an architect works at their desk, designing a project that a construction team will later bring to life. They may never meet, and each specialist may only have a vague understanding of the other’s work.
The materials used to construct buildings are constantly moved from one place to another—from extraction and transportation to processing into components and installation at the designated location in the project. During the building’s use, materials wear out, users’ needs and preferences evolve, and eventually, when nothing is left to salvage, the building must be demolished. The materials intertwined in the building are separated again into smaller units, and a truck comes to collect the piles of demolition waste.
Although the recycling rate of demolition waste in Estonia is increasing—meaning the material is not simply dumped in landfills but redirected for reuse—the value of materials obtained from demolition generally still decreases. Statistics show that concrete and bricks are reused at a rate of 100%. However, this is because they are merely used as fill material, such as in depleted quarries. The energy spent on extracting and processing these materials is essentially buried. This is not sustainable in the current situation, where the volume of construction is growing, and the amount of demolition waste is proportionally increasing. Moreover, such practices contradict the Waste Act, which requires waste to be viewed as a resource to reduce the demand for new natural materials.