Urban Mine Platform. As part of the Prospecting Secondary raw materials in the Urban mine and Mining wastes (ProSUM) project, 17 collaborating institutions in Europe and Japan have developed the Urban Mine Platform, an inventory database on secondary raw materials from end-of-life vehicles, electronic equipment, batteries and mining waste (ProSUM, 2018). This type of inventory can facilitate reuse and recycling of end-of-life materials.

Building Code of Australia. Introduced in 1996, the Building Code of Australia is a leading example of performance-based design and construction standards. The code was developed with the intent of enabling greater innovation in terms of buildings materials, technologies and design (Australian Building Codes Board, 2017). Australia is actively involved in international efforts to promote the shift from prescriptive to performance-based buildings codes (Foliente, 2005).

Structural Engineers 2050 Commitment Initiative and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology database of embodied Quantity outputs (deQo). The Carbon Leadership Forum, an industryacademic collaboration hosted at the University of Washington, has started an initiative to encourage structural engineers to contribute to meeting embodied carbon benchmarks (University of Washington, 2017). To establish benchmarks and measure progress, the initiative asks engineers to contribute data to deQo, which is an online database of construction project embodied emissions and material quantities.

Willis-Knighton Health System adaptive buildings reuse. The Willis-Knighton Health System, a non-profit health care provider in the state of Louisiana (United States), has undertaken over 20 adaptive reuse projects (Elrod and Fortenberry, 2017). The projects involve repurposing abandoned or idle buildings into new health care facilities. Adaptive reuse has become a core part of the organisation’s strategy, and new construction is considered only when buildings reuse opportunities are not available to meet expansion needs.

Adopt business models and practices that advance circular economy objectives

Businesses across supply chains can contribute to improved material efficiency. Integrating policies at the corporate level of businesses can urge decision makers throughout a company to use materials wisely. Planning, monitoring and reporting will promote a culture of material efficiency and deter practices that may increase material use. An example of perverse incentive would be the indexation of revenues of engineering, architecture or design firms to the overall cost of construction projects. This would mean revenues increase as more materials go into buildings. Monitoring and reporting could reduce this type of incentive to use more materials than the minimum needed.

More-innovative and new business models can also reduce material use. Efforts to realise the sharing economy (e.g. car-sharing and office space sharing) can reduce overall demand for production and construction. Moving towards increased prefabrication in the buildings sector could help optimise material use. Increasing digitalisation of production methods and digital tracking of materials could also enhance opportunities for material efficiency. Research and development towards new materials with a lower carbon footprint could also provide new business opportunities.

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The following are indicative key contributing actions from stakeholders:

Governments: ensure regulatory frameworks facilitate and do not hinder adoption of new business models that reduce material use.

Industry: normalise material efficiency considerations in business practices; and develop business models that make more effective use of materials, including sharing models, prefabrication and digitalised production.

Researchers: research the benefits and opportunities of different circular economy business models; research the behavioural and social barriers to the circular economy and how these could be overcome; and research and develop new lower-carbon materials.

Train, build capacity and share best practices

Lack of awareness and skills may be a primary barrier to more-efficient use of materials in some circumstances. Material efficiency considerations should be included in education and training programmes for actors throughout value chains. These actors should include designers, engineers, construction workers, manufacturing companies and demolition companies. For example, capacity building could increase understanding among designers and construction workers on what minimum requirements are necessary to ensure performance and safety, thus helping reduce over-engineering or overestimation that may occur by being overly cautious. Capacity building could also urge designers, architecture and engineers to think about aspects such as modularity, lightweighting and reusability in the design stages. In emerging economies, skills development for construction workers could lead to better construction practices, thus reducing waste. Government-supported capacity building would complement and help ensure compliance when adopting standards that require efficient use of materials. Sharing of best practices among companies would also help promote high standards of material efficiency.

The following are indicative key contributing actions from stakeholders:

Governments: fund education and training programmes on material efficiency.

Industry: provide training to employees; and share best practices and guidance among fellow industry participants, including through professional bodies and associations.

Researchers: share information on the quantities of materials needed to ensure performance.

Shift behaviour towards material efficiency

The public can also contribute to driving efficient use of materials. As consumers, the public can direct demand towards products that are designed and fabricated with material efficiency in mind, such as through purchasing smaller, more fuel-efficient vehicles and homes certified under green labelling schemes that consider materials production emissions. People can also influence demand for the sharing economy, including car-sharing and office sharing, which enables more intensified use of materials and lower material demand. Consumer involvement at product and buildings end of life will be key for improving the efficient use of materials. This includes proper disposal of products for recycling. It also includes acceptance of refurbishment and reuse, such as purchasing homes with retrofitted rather than new buildings frames, or purchasing products with a high proportion of reused rather than new materials. As citizens and taxpayers, the public can also vote in support of government policies and investments that aim to reduce carbon emissions, including those that promote material efficiency. Such policies and investments would aid and accelerate consumer shifts towards material efficiency.

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