Bricks, structural concrete or timber, steel sections, raised floor systems, window frames, glass, technical equipment. Most renovation sites are sitting on material streams with reuse or refurbishment potential. In theory the R-strategy hierarchy is clear: reuse before refurbish, refurbish before recycle, recycle before recover. In practice, what leaves the site often depends less on ambition and more on who you have in your contacts.
Structure is where the impact is highest — and where the decisions are hardest. A concrete frame, a steel skeleton, a timber roof structure: these carry the most embodied carbon, and recovering them intact rather than crushing them is the difference between a circular project and a greenwashed one. Some materials have reproducible quick wins — established salvage pathways, emerging quality standards, and a growing network of suppliers and services ready to intercept them before they become waste. Raised floor tiles and façade panels can be refurbished and resold. Bricks can be cleaned and repalletised. These aren’t niche experiments — they’re happening on sites across Europe right now.
What’s your experience? Which material streams are you successfully diverting from landfill or recycling — and through which services or partners? And where are the gaps: materials with obvious reuse potential that still have no viable recovery pathway in your region?