A material and component bank to facilitate material recycling and component reuse for a sustainable construction: concept and preliminary study

This paper concerns the reusable components and recycled materials from demounted structures which may draw a large amount of waste in construction industry. By a series of literature review and analyses, a material and component bank was proposed to manage more effectively the recycling of materials and direct reuse of components even of whole components obtained from old structures to facilitate a more sustainable construction industry. The concept, main businesses, and work operation of the bank were illustrated in detail including its potential management method and supply chain. The relationship between the bank and current building information modeling, design for deconstruction, supply chain, and life cycle assessment based on the bank were then analyzed in detail. It can be concluded that the bank could pave the way for effectively performing a further and repaid reuse of components and perfecting current recycling of materials to contribute a more sustainable built environment from the view of various terms mentioned in this study. The bank also can link with current method of life cycle assessment or environmental impact assessment well, which all can promote the construction sustainability indicating the bank can be integrated into current construction industry easily for the future.