Building without the waste
Building Without the Waste by Sophie Weiner is a journal that goes into the construction industry waste output of Australia, published in 2018. This journal goes into how building without waste is extremely sustainable. While it’s more focused on buildings and larger structures, many ideas can be sized down and utilised for my project.
I found this article really interesting and expanded my thoughts towards sustainability. A large part of creating is the waste left behind, and for many years this was an afterthought. But due to the amount of waste outputted by every country, a solution has to be made. I discovered recycled materials from this journal, and like the workers, it advertised to, I initially thought it would be inferior to new materials but learnt this is wrong. This is manufactured material with proper quality control and testing, it’s not a random piece of old wood. One thing to keep in mind is it’s impossible to have no waste when creating, buts it’s extremely doable to minimise waste and reuse the waste created, ending with no unusable waste.
For my project, I wanted to recycle, reuse and upcycle parts for my instrument, but maybe the most important part is reducing the waste and getting my parts from sustainable places. I will look into using recycled materials and how to recycle my own material, for example, that sawdust can be turned into MDF.
One idea that has troubled me is the use of electronics In the world of upcycling. I understand how to recycle parts to create the instrument, but could you do the same with weird and niche electronics? I currently think the best thing I could do is purchase the electronics either second-hand or from a sustainable source. The reason I’m staying away from buying new items is that it starts the cycle of demand and supply. If I get into the mindset now that the final product will be fully recycled, I will be able to do it. As stated by Eugenie Stockmann, a member of the sustainable urban housing development company Green Swing, “There’s a lot you can do if you bear it in mind from day one”.
Here are some quotes from the journal that I found fascinating.
“According to the 2018 national waste policy report, 20.4 million tonnes of waste are produced by the construction and demolition industries in Australia every year. That’s nearly a third of all the waste produced in the country.” Furthermore, in 9 years (2006-2017), “the amount of waste produced […] increased by 20%”. – Sophie Weiner
“Though 67% of the construction waste is eventually recycled, that’s still 6.7 million tonnes of waste ending in landfills each year. Most of the waste is perfectly useable products in the form of offcuts and over-orders”. – Sophie Weiner
Recycling plants aim to reproduce products equal to any others on the market, BingGo’s Melbourne plant operation manager Ben Morgan states, “Once you see that good product, you say: that’s not waste, that’s stuff that people genuinely want.” – Sophie Weiner
“Downcycling (recycling a product where the final product is of lesser value) is better than sending materials to landfill, but we don’t have unlimited resources. If we downcycle, there will be a point where we have to extract more resources.” – Nilupa Udawatta, a lecturer of construction management.
“some people don’t like to use recycled materials in structural elements because they are worried about the quality. There should be a mechanism to ensure those materials have a certain quality and strength and can be used in certain building elements.” – Nilupa Udawatta
“People tend to use the easiest method. Time is money.” – Nilupa Udawatta
“Udawatta recommends spending more time in the design process. This can be costly, but can save a huge amount of materials and waste.”