Background: Transition to a circular economy? Flow of resources in the building industry
According to estimates, in 2010, the German residential building stock alone comprised around 10 billion tonnes of mineral construction materials, such as brick and concrete, approximately 220 million tonnes of timber and 100 million tonnes of metals. Due to on-going construction work, this stock will increase by a further 20 % by 2025 [2]. All buildings and infrastructure facilities in the country combined contain around 400 million tonnes of metal (fig. 1). At current market rates, this resource is equal to €175 billion. These figures highlight the incredible resource potential that is held in buildings and infrastructure facilities. The scrap contained in the building stock (metals and minerals) could be used as a so-called 'urban mine' through suitable deconstruction measures.
