Unlocking sustainability in the construction industry practical guidance for circular economy assessment

The construction industry plays a key role in global economic growth and job creation, but it also contributes to environmental issues, including high material and energy consumption, waste generation, and CO2 emissions, which have a broader societal impact. The underlined reason for this has been identified as the traditional Linear Economy (LE) model that industry follows, which is based on the “take, make, use, discard” principle. In the LE model, resources are extracted to make products, then utilised often not to their full potential and finally, discarded at the end of their aesthetic lifetime even though their functional lifetime remains. Converse to the LE model, the Circular Economy (CE) model has been identified as a promising solution, which can be implemented in order to minimise the associated negative environmental, economic and social impacts and gain financial benefits. According to the Ellen MacArthur Foundation (2015), the CE is an approach, characterised by its inherent restorative and regenerative design, in which resource input, waste, emission, and energy leakage are minimised by narrowing, slowing, and closing material and energy loops. In CE, the concept of waste is eliminated. At the end of a product’s lifecycle, it is designed to become either a biological or technical nutrient, re-entering the economy through biological or technical cycles ensuring an overall balance between supply and demand. Hence, adopting CE practices appears to be a contemporary, relevant, and helpful way to achieve sustainability goals of an entity and thereby, reach United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.