Results of Life Cycle Analysis on the reuse of old bricks have been published

The publication states:

"Provided an old brick replaces a new brick, both technically and functionally, re-use is, to a varying degree, a more advantageous handling method than recycling in terms of impact on the environment. This is evident from a life cycle based environmental assessment of direct re-use of bricks. The modelling is based on the way the company “Gamle Mursten” prepares the old bricks for insertion in new buildings. As an alternative to direct reuse the brick fraction of demolition waste is crushed and used as base material for construction work.

According to the Danish EnergyAgency all building material applied in Denmark is subjected the Building Regulations (BR10). This means that reused building material must meet the same standards in terms of strength, density, durability, etc. applicable to the European standards which are referred to in BR10 equally to other building materials. Dealers of re-used building material must, therefore, continuously, equal to other producers of new building materials, be able to document that the re-used building materials meet these standards. It is NOT a requirement that re-used building materials which are directly re-used without undergoing an assembling- or manufacturing process must be CE marked according to the Construction Products Regulation.

The Danish Environmental Protection Agency is planning the initiation of a socio-economic analysis of different scenarios of re-use of old bricks which will, along with the present LCA, form a basis for an evaluation of pros and cons of introducing new processing requirements." (The section is in Danish and translated by Gamle Mursten)

For more information and for the LCA report in it's entire form please consult: http://www.mst.dk/Virksomhed_og_myndighed/Affald/Nyheder+affald/LCA_af_genbrug_af_mursten.htm