Circular economy in the construction industry
Daniela Schneider didn’t play with Barbie dolls because she much preferred playing with Lego bricks as a child. Her favorite thing to build with the little plastic blocks was a fire station. Almost three decades later, Daniela Schneider is once again building a fire station. This time it’s a real one for the volunteer fire brigade in the small Swabian community of Straubenhardt. What’s different about this project is that the fire station is one of the first Cradle to Cradle(R) projects in the public sector.
Although larger and real, the construction project in Straubenhardt has something fundamental in common with the Lego model from the 1980s: it consists of a kind of construction kit and the individual parts are not firmly connected at any point, so the fire station can theoretically be dismantled into its individual parts at any time. Why? Because it is sustainable. All the materials used in the building can be separated by type and reused at the end of its useful life. This principle is called Cradle to Cradle.
Circular economy in the construction industry: Why Cradle to Cradle is becoming increasingly important
Cradle to Cradle (C2C) is about closing material cycles based on the example of nature. It is applied, for example, in the textile, cosmetics, packaging, and construction industries. Daniela Schneider is the C2C specialist at EPEA GmbH—Part of Drees & Sommer. “In the construction industry, C2C means that all structures are designed in such a way that their components are preserved in terms of quality and can be reused after the utilization phase. Buildings become raw material depots, so to speak,” explains the engineer. In addition, no harmful building materials are used wherever possible.
Daniela Schneider on the construction site of the fire station in Straubenhardt
