Sustainable use of recycled materials in building construction

This contribution focuses on the importance of sustainability in the building sector. The underlying idea being that sustainability and durability must be considered jointly. Different models are presented to determine the degree of sustainability, focussing on: the degradation factor, life cycle assessment, the Delft ladder of priorities, high-grade applications, design for recycling, design for disassembly, and the ecocost-value ratio. Examples are given of case studies in which these models have been applied successfully.