Building with waste and recycled material

A residential module fully constructed from reusable, recyclable, and compostable materials: This is the premise for the newest unit in NEST, the modular research and innovation building run by Empa and Eawag in Dübendorf. The NEST “Urban Mining & Recycling” recently opened its doors. As an active lab it will help to advance the construction industry’s transition to a recycling economy.

A growing scarcity of resources, along with the resulting desire to move away from today’s throwaway mentality, means that the building sector must give more thought to the multiple use and recyclability of materials, as well as to alternative methods of construction. The newest NEST unit called “Urban Mining & Recycling” implements these ideas; the result is a residential module featuring structures and materials that can be fully reused, repurposed, recycled, or composted, following deconstruction of the module.

Read the full article on the Empa-Website.