Mayer, M (2020) Material recovery certification for construction workers. Buildings & Cities, 1(1), pp. 550-564. ISSN 2632-6655
Abstract
Low and zero-carbon building certification programmes typically focus on emissions caused by building operation and/or material extraction and manufacturing activities. However, 'end-of-life' issues involving the reuse, remanufacture or recycling potential of embodied energy-intensive components are often overlooked. As a result, training and certification in this field tends to be diagnostic and observational rather than proactive and anticipatory. To ensure that vocational workers have appropriate capabilities to recycle or reuse building components fully, a training and certification programme is necessary that focuses on end-of-life material recovery potential. A framework is presented for recovery of building products and the certification system for workers. The system rates recovery potential at both the material and assembly levels through a series of evaluation criteria. This assessment is translated into a product labelling scheme as well as a training and certification programme for vocation workers involved in the production, supply and installation chains of recovery-oriented products. Practice relevance Material recovery training in the built environment is currently limited and lacks a holistic view of the entire recovery chain. A certification system targeting material recovery could help propel a transition to circular consumption models in the built environment. Vocational training based on a full supply chain view of the end-of-life sector would be essential for a transition to a circular economy.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | buildings; certification; circular economy; embodied emissions; end of life; material recovery; vocational education and training |
| Index terms: | material recovery, embodied energy, recycling, vocational training, built environment, end of life, programme, recycle, consumption, vocation, circular economy, construction worker, certification, building operation, building component, vocational education and training, recovery, embodied emission |
| Subjects: | operations management, specialized education, strategic project management, energy systems, architectural elements, environmental impact, management, administrative processes, professional development, practitioner, student development, waste management, sustainable design, project controls, infrastructure and transport systems, consumer economics |
| Topics: | Sustainability, Design Practice, Stakeholder Management, Roles and Professions, Business Strategy, Time Control, Contract Administration, Urban Studies, Education, Project Management |
| Descriptive scope: | 2 PC |
N.B. Descriptive scope is a count of how many of the five facets of empirical research are indicated by the words used in title, abstract and keywords. It is not intended as a judgement on the research; merely a count of the kind of word we would expect to indicate Phenomenon, Concepts, Theoretical framing, Empirical techniques, Analytical techniques. If all five are present, then a code of “5 PCTEA” will indicate this. If you feel the coding for this record is questionable, we welcome discussion around the terms we matched or the way we categorized them. The facet you would expect may not be coded, or a facet may be coded inappropriately. This can also bear on a larger question, of which facets should be treated as defining in construction management research. Please get in touch, and we will look at it. More details here