Two cases showing a sustainable future
By moving from linear to circular material flows, the construction sector can reduce its significant impact on climate, biodiversity, and water supply. To bring the industry together behind this shift, Ragn-Sells aims to act as a platform for collaboration, innovation, and knowledge exchange.
21 May 2024CASE #1: COLLABORATING TO MAKE OUR CITIES MORE CIRCULAR
How can actors from across the construction sector work together to make our cities more circular? This was the main question when
Ragn-Sells invited stakeholders to a series of roundtable discussions in 2023.
Today, the building sector’s reliance on the extraction of virgin raw materials makes it one of the major contributors to climate emissions, biodiversity loss, and water stress. At the same time, the industry is facing increasing demand due to population growth and urbanisation.
To meet this challenge, the industry needs to move from linear to circular material flows. This requires everyone to work together to integrate life-cycle thinking into all stages of the construction process, from design to demolition.
With the aim of enabling new collaborations, the roundtables brought together experts from all parts of the industry, many of whom had never met before. Insights from the discussions were summarised in the report How Circular Construction Builds a Sustainable Society, highlighting circular construction practices such as resource efficiency, innovation, and policy change.
Ragn-Sells invited stakeholders to a series of roundtable discussions in 2023.
CASE #2: DESIGN THAT LEAVES NOTHING OUTSIDE THE LOOPS
It takes innovation and creativity to ensure that no valuable resources are wasted. When phosphorus is extracted from sewage sludge ash in the Ash2Phos process, a red silica sand is created as a co-product. The sand is rich in iron and holds significant potential for various applications in materials.
To investigate these possibilities, our innovation company EasyMining invited the design studio Form Us With Love to explore how the sand can be integrated into new circular products.
Focusing on architectural elements, the team has experimented with everything from paint and sound absorbers to terrazzo bricks and furniture. At the COP28 climate conference in Dubai in 2023, EasyMining unveiled two of these products: a brownish mud-paint and a sound-absorbing panel.
Sand is the world’s second most consumed material, but as virgin sand is a finite resource, we are facing a sand shortage crisis. By replacing virgin sand with recycled alternatives, we can avoid resource scarcity while creating more sustainable products.
