The construction sector also has a resource problem: 50% of all raw materials produced in Germany are consumed by construction activities. After packaging, construction products are the second largest application of plastics. The problem is that all these raw materials usually end up as waste or rubble (downcycling) after one single use. Yet our built environment is a valuable storehouse of raw materials.

The conditions for the exploitation of these "urban mines" are building components with detachable joints, more specifically the possibility to separate individual layers into single-origin materials whilst preserving their quality. The general principle is: Screwing and plugging instead of gluing and mixing!  Components and building materials have to be reused as often as possible in the highest possible quality. Only when no further use as a whole component is possible after several cycles (cascade use) should building materials be put to further use (recycling). In perspective, the use of renewable raw materials enables climate-positive construction over the entire life cycle (carbon storage).

Let's change the prevailing consumption- and throwaway system into a reuse- and recycling system. Let’s consider and convert buildings as raw material storage and carbon storage!

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