The emergence of cities has always involved waste, which cannot be denied. Because it directly and significantly affects how we live in cities, waste management has gained more attention in today’s context in architectural, planning, and popular discourse. Construction and demolition trash, which includes various materials like glass, concrete, bricks, and ceramics, accounts for more than a third of all garbage produced. We need to change how we think about waste by using it to fuel potential urban expansion rather than viewing it as a liability. But how do we handle the incredible volume of construction trash we produce? Here is how new chances are developed for social, cultural, and environmental economies using various imaginative approaches and imaginations of garbage.
Under the Spanish Law on Waste and Contaminating Soils, waste concrete and pottery that has undergone little processing may be reused in buildings.
How does it pave the way for a better future?
Associates and Collaborations
Loop Disseny, an architecture concept created by the Balearic Islands’ Institute for Business Innovation, stands out among the new approaches that the Balearic Islands have suggested for the manufacture of renewable materials as part of their latest generation of products that encourage the use of sustainable and innovative material solutions.
This project intends to develop material-based sustainable methods toward a circular economy, where innovation is integrated into its early development by applying four fundamental principles: circularity, reuse, transformation, and closeness.
Use of Recycled Local Materials
It emphasizes reusing current materials and turning them into resources for producing new goods, promoting the adoption of the circular economy as a crucial instrument. By doing so, Loop increases the value of local resources and solid trash produced by a business or the city on its own without adding to the waste stream. In this process of redefining and creating products that blend in with the surrounding environment: the Hygroscopic Mortar. Waste ceramics and recyclable stone are combined with low-impact natural cement to generate a hygroscopic substance that can draw and hold water from the ecosystems that help reduce the adverse effects on the environment.
Framework and Follow-up
15% stabilized white cement serves as a low-impact binder in the Hygroscopic Mortar, which comprises 85% recovered cracked ceramics with recycled stone. The resulting product acts as a purifier and controls the environment’s humidity because of its high moisture content. The procedure created an aggregate with strong hygroscopic qualities and resilience suitable for many tasks, including building, construction, and renovations.
The composition prepared was decided to concentrate on paving in pedestrian networks, bicycle lanes, non-motorized roadways, and green areas as an alternative to asphalt in cities because ceramic limits the structural performance of paving stones for traffic and heavy loads.
References:
- Camila Prieto. “Spanish Architects Create Moisture-Absorbing Mortar from Construction Waste” 10 Nov 2022. ArchDaily. Accessed 19 Nov 2022. <https://www.archdaily.com/991951/spanish-architects-create-moisture-absorbing-mortar-from-construction-waste> ISSN 0719-8884
