From Overlooked Waste to Circular Opportunity: Plastics in Construction
Briefly

From Overlooked Waste to Circular Opportunity: Plastics in Construction
"Like the famous Russian Matryoshka doll, opening a package often feels like uncovering endless layers. Inside a cardboard box, there might be molded Styrofoam, then several plastic air pillows, and finally, individual plastic wrapping around each piece. Even a small product can leave behind a trail of plastic waste far larger than its size."
"Now imagine this logic applied to a construction site where every component, every delivery of materials, often arrives wrapped in multiple layers of protection. What already seems excessive in retail becomes monumental when repeated daily on large construction projects."
Layered consumer packaging—cardboard boxes with molded Styrofoam, air pillows, and individual plastic wraps—produces plastic waste far larger than the items packaged. Small products can therefore leave disproportionate waste footprints compared with their size. When the same multi-layer protection logic applies to construction, every component and every materials delivery repeatedly arrives heavily wrapped, multiplying the volume of single-use plastic on site. The cumulative effect on large projects becomes monumental, increasing landfill input, complicating sorting and recycling, raising disposal costs, and enlarging embodied carbon and logistical burdens across supply chains.
Read at ArchDaily
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