Most of the materials we use come from non-renewable sources, and sooner or later we will run out. It also takes energy, usually from fossil fuels, to make building products, thereby contributing to climate change.
We can help to address this by using sustainable materials, such as:
- Responsibly sourced used materials, for example reusing roof tiles.
- Materials with recycled content, for example old newspapers as insulation.
- Materials that can be recycled - It takes 95% less energy to use recycled aluminium than virgin aluminium!
- Renewable materials, for example FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) timber for wood floors
- Natural, environmentally friendly, locally sourced materials, for example sheep’s wool insulation.
Did you know that Kingston University has catalogued over 1,200 recycled materials for use at the construction industry in its Sustainable Materials Library? Rematerialise is both an online resource and a library you can visit and only contains items that come from renewable resources or less non-renewable resources.