Obstacles and Opportunities forReusing Material in theConstruction and Real Estate Industry : A study towards an upscaled reuse implementation to achieve net zero emission at Akademiska Hus

Abstract: The construction- and real estate industry can be held accountable for major pollution and is responsible for 20% of the total emissions of greenhouse gasses in Sweden. To reduce their emissions and contribute to a sustainable future, actors in the industry work effectively to transition from a linear economy to a circular one. This includes the circularity of construction materials used in buildings and facilities. Reuse of construction materials is becoming more common and is discussed throughout the industry as an effective way of decreasing waste and CO2 emissions from the industry. However, the industry has been facing difficulties implementing new and effective ways to reuse construction materials. In this study, obstacles to implementing reuse as well as development opportunities have been evaluated. The study aims to identify the main obstacles for an upscaled reuse, their causes and effects as well as give suggestions on development opportunities to facilitate the reuse of construction materials. Primarily, a literature review was conducted to create an understanding of reuse today and to identify the main obstacles and development opportunities as well as creating a basis for the qualitative research. Thereafter, empirical data was collected through semi-structured interviews with different actors and specialists within reuse. Finally, the collected data from the literature review and the interviews was divided into key areas and compared, resulting in a list of main obstacles and suggestions for development opportunities for each key area. The ten barriers that were found are (1) Habits and Attitudes, (2) Knowledge and Lack of a Holistic Approach, (3) Tools and Systems, (4) Cost, Revenue and Time, (5) Supply and Demand, (6) Logistics, (7) Lack of Sustainability Procurements and Incentives, (8) Laws and Regulations, (9) Quality Assurance and (10) Technical Obstacles. The results reveal that many of the obstacles and development opportunities identified in the literature study align with the respondents’ answers in the qualitative study. Furthermore, a reuse potential is identified, but it requires internal as well as external adjustments within the construction and real estate industry. Examples of these external adjustments is increased flexibility in the laws and regulations set by external authorities and putting more demands on contractors and subcontractors to adapt their work procedures according to circularity. Recommendations gathered for construction and real estate companies are to set general guidelines and goals for reuse within the organization. Furthermore, actors within the industry should work on spreading knowledge to initiate circular thoughts from the start of a project. They should also create awareness of the value of reusing and disseminate knowledge about reuse within the organization, to partners in the industry and to the end customers. To facilitate future reuse implementation, companies should work on designing for disassembly (DfD) and use more standardized and general measures when designing. Companies should also work on digitalization to create tools and systems that streamline their work and use BIM to predict future supply assets and store information about construction materials.