INDUSTRY NEWS
‘ CAB ’ s Tale of Two Camps ’
There are some that would argue that we should immediately stop using products or materials in our buildings that create and embody carbon in their production . It is a noble thought , but is it realistic to suggest that we can achieve this and meet today ’ s building needs ? Obviously we can and should be mindful of the embodied carbon content of materials we use in construction and if we can substitute alternative lower carbon materials , then we should .
BY PHIL SLINGER - CAB CHIEF EXECUTIVE
All construction materials have either , a single use life , known as ‘ cradle to grave ’, alternatively a material which offers second life , but in a reduced quality , or ultimately , a fully recyclable material such as aluminium known as a ‘ cradle to cradle ’ which can be recycled back into new products many times with no loss of quality .
But we still see metals , in particular , penalised because of their high embodied carbon content . these are still being put alongside materials such as timber and argued that metals should be avoided as they harm the environment . The issue was initiated back in 2012 when the standard EN15804 + A1 “ Sustainability of construction works – Environmental product declarations – Core rules for the product category of construction products ” was first released . The standard looked at all products on a ‘ cradle to grave ’ basis , which included metals and this is still done today . If , for example , we look at the ‘ Construction Material Pyramid ’, aluminium is highly weighed on its Global Warming Index , in fact it is top of the pyramid . The ‘ option ’ to use module D of the standard allowed for a ‘ cradle to cradle ’ recycling approach but the problem is that it was left as ‘ optional ’ - a mistake in our opinion .
Hence we have two camps , those who would argue , possibly for their materials benefit , that Module D should be left as an option and those that believe that all materials should be viewed in a complete Life Cycle Analysis ( LCA ).
The Council for Aluminium in Building fully supports the ‘ circular economy ’ as aluminium is virtually 100 % recyclable many times over with no loss of quality . Metals such as aluminium offer unique characteristics which are not available in any other material . CAB fully supports the approach that all materials should be subject to Life Cycle Analysis ( LCA ). As we continue to reduce the embodied energy within aluminium ’ s first production from a natural mineral known as Bauxite , using renewable energy resources , the material is then known as ‘ Primary Aluminium ’. In fact , aluminium has for many decades been produced using hydro electricity , so perhaps aluminium should be termed as one of the first ‘ green ’ metals to be produced .
Such is the demand for aluminium that virtually all used aluminium is collected and recycled . The International Aluminium Institute ( IAI ) released their latest global aluminium recycling report in 2020 which reported 75 % of the almost 1.5 billion tonnes of aluminium produced since the 1880 ’ s is still in productive use today . Over 30 million tonnes of aluminium scrap is recycled globally , this
8 JANUARY 2023 CLEARVIEW-UK . COM