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Your Guide to Urban Mining and Its Benefits
One of the biggest and newest trends in the sustainable construction industry is urban mining recycling, or the recycling of usable resources from construction and demolition wastes. Demolition and construction waste often end up in landfills, leading to pollution and resource misuse. But, in many cases, wasting construction materials isn’t necessary. Urban mining by recycling helps reduce the construction industry’s environmental impact while helping to conserve resources and reduce the costs of materials
At Storefield Aggregates, we help contractors and construction managers remove building waste from their sites and procure high-quality recycled aggregate from our Telford Way recycling centre. We believe in building a better tomorrow using today’s discarded materials from demolition sites or other construction waste.
In this article, we’ll explore the other benefits of urban mining in industries and how this concept is revolutionising a range of industries in the UK.
What is Urban Mining?
Urban mining recycling is the process of recovering valuable resources from products, buildings, and infrastructure already available in our cities and using them for newer constructions. This concept dates all the way back to ancient Rome, where pieces from the Colosseum were used to build palaces and churches.
Raw material extraction using traditional mining methods has become very expensive today, not to mention dangerous and environmentally hazardous. Urban mining instead uses ‘urban ore’ found in electronic devices, vehicles, buildings, and even wastewater sludge.
Our cities are modern-day mines, where you can find gold, other precious metals, and steel. E-waste urban mining is particularly effective for tapping into significant reserves of rare earth metals from discarded electronic waste, such as computer parts, old smartphones, and hard discs.
The use of urban mining in industries across the UK provides solutions to three problems at once: it reduces dependency on traditional mining, minimises landfill waste, and keeps materials in use for as long as possible.
What’s Involved in the Process of Urban Mining?
The first step of urban mining recycling is the targeted collection of e-waste, construction rubble, old batteries, and scrap construction materials. Once collected, these are transported to specialised facilities where they’re sorted, processed, and refined for reuse.
At the facilities, automated systems with robotics and artificial intelligence separate the materials. Once separated, metals and minerals are extracted using techniques like shredding, magnetic separation, and chemical leaching. The extracted materials are now ready to be reused.
In the construction industry, concrete and brick from demolished buildings are crushed to be reused as aggregates. At Storefield Aggregates, we run this process every day in our licensed aggregate recycling facility at Telford Way. Contact us to learn more about our recycled aggregates production.
Benefits of Urban Mining
Urban Mining is more than just a recycling fad; it can be a long-term solution to resource scarcity, as well as helping us to manage environmental damage.
We’ve shared some of the key benefits of urban mining below.
1. Reduced Ecological Impact
Traditional mining contributes to deforestation, soil erosion, and water pollution, leaving a very large carbon footprint. Urban mining recycling, on the other hand, reduces land degradation, uses less energy, and has a smaller impact on the environment.
2. Resource Conservation
Modern construction, electronics, and manufacturing all rely on metals and natural resources, which are finite in supply. The global demand for these metals and minerals has surpassed the supply, and traditional methods are unable to keep up with it. Urban mining helps close this gap by reintroducing essential materials already available back into the supply chain.
4. Less Landfill Waste
Every year, construction and electronic waste occupy a significant portion of UK landfills. These materials are also responsible for releasing harmful chemicals into the soil and water. With urban mining in industries across the country, we can divert these materials from landfills and make better use of them.
5. Cost Saving
When the cost of mining and transporting raw materials is removed, urban mining becomes a much more affordable option. It also helps reduce costs connected with waste management, such as landfill taxes and disposal fees.
Challenges to Urban Mining
While urban mining by recycling has many advantages, it also faces limitations due to a lack of awareness. Many businesses still don’t follow proper protocols when they’re disposing of their e-waste, which makes their recovery much more difficult.
Another problem is that specialised equipment, which is required to separate and extract the waste, is expensive. This makes it difficult for smaller companies to adopt these methods of sourcing materials.
Plus, regulatory inconsistencies can also limit progress. The standards for construction recycling differ from region to region, making it difficult for businesses to adopt urban mining practices.
Contact Storefield Aggregates For Recycled Aggregates
Urban mining recycling isn’t a pipe dream; it’s a method of sourcing materials that has already been adopted by many industries. At Storefield Aggregates, we help customers reduce their carbon footprint and construction costs with our recycled aggregate solutions that comply with UK regulations.
With aggregate recycling facilities based in Northamptonshire, we offer high-quality recycled materials suitable for roads, backfilling, landscaping, and more, alongside waste collection and management services.
Contact us with your aggregate needs today at 01536 418121 or email our sales team at info@storefield.co.uk.
