It is obvious we in the western world we need to do more and especially as we design and manufacture products we need to look at the circularity of the product to keep every part of the product away from the landfill.
We have to admit that we in the North American Continent have a first world problem of our shallow objects of desire are creating a heap of throw away waste. Our western society is drowning in objects that are purchased and thrown away shallow objects of desire. We have an incredible opportunity to seize the moment, let’s reinvent our business models and create sustainable abundance.
Our premise of a sustainable environment are based on the three Rs- reduce, reuse and recycle. Does this building I toured last week meet that criteria? Yes, it does where res-use is concerned as it it has been sustainability built into it - reducing waste in many forms and sustainable process was used in building it.
However, it barely meets the other two "Rs" - reuse and recycle. Very little of the sustainable materiel will be reused nor recyclable. The good sustainable material that went into constructing the building would in effect will go to waste when the building has run through its life cycle some decades from now as it is not designed to be recycled or reuse.
My question to you: will the designers; engineers and builders of the built environment can be silent observers any more? we need to central and elemental is the workings of making the world sustainable?
The future of building will be based on how we answer their question:
How will you reuse components into structures that can be extracted without damage and at low cost?
