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The purpose of this paper is to explore the intersection of building material reuse and heritage value, and raises questions about how “preservation” has traditionally been defined and conceptualized. With a grounding in the realities of global climate change, the paper argues for further research on the topic and for the active engagement of the preservation field in reuse efforts.

After a review of existing literature, this study takes a descriptive and conceptual approach to explore the heritage values generated through material reuse.

This paper finds that processes of material reuse are richly embedded with heritage value and offer a conceptual challenge to established modes of heritage practice.

The findings of this paper suggest that heritage practitioners should actively engage with material reuse efforts to better understand the heritage values generated from such processes. Areas of future research and collaboration are identified.

Despite their intrinsic interaction with aged and existing infrastructure, there has been limited engagement in the heritage and preservation field with the topics of deconstruction, building material reuse, or construction and demolition waste practices more generally. This paper thus provides descriptive research on a topic that has been unevenly explored.

The application of circular building adaptability (CBA) in adaptive reuse becomes an effective action for resource efficiency, long-lasting usability of the built environment and the sped-up transition to a circular economy (CE). This paper aims to explore to which extent CBA-related strategies are applied in adaptive reuse projects, considering enablers and obstacles.

A stepwise theory-practice-oriented approach was followed. Multiple-case studies of five circular adaptive reuse projects in The Netherlands were investigated, using archival research and in-depth interviews. A cross-case analysis of the findings was deductively conducted, to find and replicate common patterns.

The study revealed that configuration flexibility, product dismantlability and material reversibility were applied across the case studies, whereas functional convertibility and building maintainability were less applied. Low cost of material reuse, collaboration among team members and organisational motivation were frequently observed enabling factors. Lack of information, technical complexities, lack of circularity expertise and infeasibility of innovative circular solutions were frequently observed obstacles to applying CBA.

This paper provides practitioners with a set of CBA strategies that have been applied in the real world, facilitating the application of CBA in future adaptive reuse projects. Moreover, this set of strategies provides policymakers with tools for developing supportive regulations or amending existing regulations for facilitating CE through adaptive reuse.

This study provides empirical evidence on the application of CBA in different real-life contexts. It provides scholars and practitioners with a starting point for further developing guiding or decision-making tools for CBA in adaptive reuse.

Additive manufacturing (AM) has been one of the most highlighted processes of the last few years. AM prints complex parts and items from 3D files regarding different materials, such as polymers. Moreover, there are different AM techniques available for polymers, such as selective laser sintering. In the SLS technology, polyamides 11 and 12 lead 88% of the market. These materials are high-cost and use an average of 50% of virgin material at each printing. It is possible to use lower rates of virgin material, but at least 30% is recommended. Low rates of virgin material decrease mechanical properties.

This study aims to evaluate the influence on the mechanical properties of the percentage of reused PA12 in parts manufactured by the SLS process. The specimens of PA12 were manufactured with a percentage of virgin/reused polymer of 50/50, 40/60, 30/70, 20/80 and 10/90. We considered three distinct printing directions to compare the mechanical properties of the specimens: horizontal, perpendicular and vertical.

The results showed that when the percentage of reused material increases, the tensile strength limit (TSL), flexural strength limit and Shore D hardness decrease. Another aspect visualized was the fragile behavior presented in the vertical specimens. In addition, DSC analysis indicated a 2% reduction of crystallinity. Scanning electron microscopy images revealed spherical voids and unfused particles of PA12 at the fracture of tensile test specimens. The material thermal history and unfused particles could decrease the material properties.

We observed that the mechanical properties, such as the TSL, flexural strength limit and hardness, decrease as the percentage of reused material increases. In addition, the process presented a printing-direction dependence, where the vertical direction presented as the more brittle between the ones used.

The purpose of this paper is to describe a system and a database structure for the tracing of the waste of electric and electronic equipment (WEEE) using radio-frequency identification tags.

The problems related to the management of WEEE and the international directives have been presented and analyzed. The authors propose a traceability system to extend the tracing in the reverse logistics.

The proposed systems allow a more efficient management of the reuse, repair and recycle phase of the products and components, thus reducing the disposal of the electric and electronic equipment. There are many possible positive impacts of the system. The authors investigate, in particular, the impact of the single component tracing on the disposal cost reduction and on the reliability improvement using reused components.

The system has been tested in the production chain of a company that produces electronic equipment for elevators. Up to now, the results and impact are limited to the company.

The system has been applied in the management of reused components of a specific company. The immediate result was that the system allowed the redesign of the electronic product with a cost reduction and reliability improvement.

The authors think that the proposed solution allows a step forward in the reduction of WEEE.

The database structure and the web application, used to track the entire working life of an electronic appliance, are original. Original is also the idea of tracing all the single components of the electronic products.

The purpose of this paper is to address a gap in current heritage practice within the USA, as defined by the US Secretary of Interior’s Standards, which offers no treatment for a building entering the end of its lifecycle.

Building on research conducted for “Deconstructing the Culture of Demolition,” Master of Design Studies thesis completed in 2018, this paper seeks to better understand how deconstruction industry practice could be changed by the inclusion of heritage values through a case study of the sustainability non-profit Emergent Structures of Savanah, Georgia.

The benefits of replacing demolition with deconstruction extend beyond the preservation of materials alone. Applying critical heritage theories to deconstruction practice addresses challenging issues in the discipline, such as mutability of heritage objects and equity in heritage practice. Deconstruction redefines the concept of death in the built environment, harnessing its energy to serve the heritage goals of memory, revival and sustainable community development.

The findings are based on real-world practice, linking heritage methodology to deconstruction practice. These examples will be useful to preservation professionals who deal with demolition in the course of their work, to rethink the idea of waste and value in heritage practice.

This paper explores best practices in promoting heritage value and community engagement through deconstruction. This insight will promote interdisciplinary communication around historic materials and their treatment, which remains unexplored in both deconstruction and heritage research.

The purpose of this paper is to explore how rising technologies from Industry 4.0 can be integrated with circular economy (CE) practices to establish a business model that reuses and recycles wasted material such as scrap metal or e-waste.

The qualitative research method was deployed in three stages. Stage 1 was a literature review of concepts, successful factors and barriers related to the transition towards a CE along with sustainable supply chain management, smart production systems and additive manufacturing (AM). Stage 2 comprised a conceptual framework to integrate and evaluate the synergistic potential among these concepts. Finally, stage 3 validated the proposed model by collecting rich qualitative data based on semi-structured interviews with managers, researchers and professors of operations management to gather insightful and relevant information.

The outcome of the study is the recommendation of a circular model to reuse scrap electronic devices, integrating web technologies, reverse logistics and AM to support CE practices. Results suggest a positive influence from improving business sustainability by reinserting waste into the supply chain to manufacture products on demand.

The impact of reusing wasted materials to manufacture new products is relevant to minimising resource consumption and negative environmental impacts. Furthermore, it avoids hazardous materials ending up in landfills or in the oceans, seriously threatening life in ecosystems. In addition, reuse of wasted material enables the development of local business networks that generate jobs and improve economic performance.

First, the impact of reusing materials to manufacture new products minimises resource consumption and negative environmental impacts. The circular model also encourages keeping hazardous materials that seriously threaten life in ecosystems out of landfills and oceans. For this study, it was found that most urban waste is plastic and cast iron, leaving room for improvement in increasing recycling of scrap metal and similar materials. Second, the circular business model promotes a culture of reusing and recycling and motivates the development of collection and processing techniques for urban waste through the use of three-dimensional (3D) printing technologies and Industry 4.0. In this way, the involved stakeholders are focused on the technical parts of recycling and can be better dedicated to research, development and innovation because many of the processes will be automated.

The purpose of this study was to explore how Industry 4.0 technologies are integrated with CE practices. This allows for the proposal of a circular business model for recycling waste and delivering new products, significantly reducing resource consumption and optimising natural resources. In a first stage, the circular business model can be used to recycle electronic scrap, with the proposed integration of web technologies, reverse logistics and AM as a technological platform to support the model. These have several environmental, sociotechnical and economic implications for society.

The sociotechnical aspects are directly impacted by the circular smart production system (CSPS) management model, since it creates a new culture of reuse and recycling techniques for urban waste using 3D printing technologies, as well as Industry 4.0 concepts to increase production on demand and automate manufacturing processes. The tendency of the CSPS model is to contribute to deployment CE in the manufacture of new products or parts with AM approaches, generating a new path of supply and demand for society.

The purpose of this paper is to adopt posthumanist perspectives on waste as traces of life to investigate how the alternative heritage work of redesigners transforms discarded building materials into reuse interior designs. It combines recent research on waste, shifting focus from representational and symbolic aspects to its material and indexical relations to human life, with critical perspectives emphasising heritage as encompassing different and ambiguous ways of engaging with material transformation over time.

Anthropological fieldwork involving participant observation was conducted over six months to closely examine the entanglement between redesigners and reuse materials in interior design work.

The sensory ethnographic approach reveals how materials are approached as unfolding processes rather than closed objects. Tracing how redesigners capitalise on the ambiguity of traces of life in building materials, the paper shows how uncertainty and risk are inevitable companions when working with reuse. To rehabilitate used things, and reassociate with materials classified as waste or heritage, means following their trajectories of becoming and responding to their signs of life. While involving important benefits, this often leads to the inconvenient and risky mess characteristic of an interconnected and entangled multispecies world.

Ethnographic analyses of reuse design are few. In particular, there is a lack of studies informed by posthumanist theories recognising the social and ecological embeddedness and mutual entanglement of humans and materials. By studying practices for extending the lifespan of salvaged materials external to formal heritage management this paper contributes with perspectives to revitalise heritage practices, while highlighting the neglect of socio-historic values of materials within circular economy.

Construction and Demolition (C&D) Waste Management (WM) poses significant challenges in Sri Lanka, contributing to environmental degradation and resource depletion. To address these issues, this study explores the application of Circular Economy (CE) strategies in minimising waste generation and optimising resource utilisation in Sri Lankan construction industry. The research focuses on the construction and building renovation and use and operate stages of the building project life cycle, recognising their significance in waste generation and resource consumption.

The research employed a qualitative approach, utilising the Delphi technique through three rounds of expert interviews. Seventeen experts were involved in the first round, followed by fifteen in the second round, and twelve in the final round. The collected data was analysed using manual content analysis methods.

The research findings revealed fifteen C&D WM issues in the construction and building renovation stage in Sri Lanka, along with suitable strategies to overcome each of them. Similarly, eight C&D WM issues were identified for the use and operate stage of the building, and corresponding strategies were provided to address each issue. By adopting CE strategies such as modular design and material reuse, construction projects can optimise the project's timeline, cost, and quality factors. These strategies enable efficient resource allocation, reduce waste generation, and contribute to the overall sustainability of the project. The impact of CE strategies on mitigating these issues within the project management iron triangle was also discussed.

This paper entails delving into how construction, building renovation, and operation stages of a building's life cycle intersect with CE strategies, which profoundly influence operational efficiency and long-term sustainability. By incorporating principles such as energy efficiency, water conservation, and circular product design, the paper illuminates how these strategies facilitate decreased energy usage, enhanced resource management, and diminished waste production throughout the building's lifespan.

A framework for reuse in educational information systems is elaborated, and evidence is presented that reuse occurs often at various levels of the educational enterprise. Case studies of the development of two online degree programs and one professional training program indicate that existing textbooks and government documents, virtual classroom tools, and administrative models and marketing mechanisms are reused. Effective reuse builds on models and mechanisms at the different levels of the educational enterprise – from individual learning to administration and from content development to delivery.

This study analyzes sustainable practices adopted by Italian firms to enhance the circularity of packaging and related results in terms of environmental improvements.

The authors developed an empirical analysis using publicly available data from the National Consortium of Packaging (CONAI) in Italy, which consists of 603 circular packaging projects. The authors ran both descriptive and prescriptive analyses to determine individual sustainable practices and portfolios adopted to enhance packaging circularity and to verify related reductions in terms of CO2 emissions as well as energy usage and water consumption.

The findings reveal that firms are more accustomed to focusing on single sustainable practices than on portfolios of practices to achieve packaging circularity. Raw material saving and logistics optimization are the most frequent sustainable practices adopted by firms to improve circularity of packaging. The reuse of packaging allows firms to simultaneously reduce CO2 emissions, energy usage and water consumption. Preferences in terms of portfolio of sustainable practices are strictly linked to the types of materials used for packaging and environmental targets.

The authors investigate environmental practices that firms adopt to support packaging circularity, and the authors detect portfolios of sustainable practices that positively impact environmental performance indicators. This research extends a significant glimpse into the portfolio of sustainable practices for packaging in the circular economy implemented by firms, filling academic gaps and indicating business opportunities and avenues for economic development.