Digital platform facilitates reuse of building materials

The volume of construction waste generated worldwide every year will nearly double to 2.2. billion metric tons by the year 2025. The Norwegian construction industry alone produces nearly 2 million metric tons of building waste every year.

Closing the loop with “reduce, reuse and recycle” practices is key to minimising waste in the construction industry.

GreenStock’s cloud-based platform streamlines logistics for the reuse of building materials. Organisations can use the platform internally to map available materials in existing buildings and leftovers from building projects in a database for reuse in future construction projects. This will reduce carbon emissions as well as overall building costs.

In future, GreenStock will be offered as a digital marketplace connecting buyers and sellers of reclaimed materials to reduce waste in commercial and residential construction projects.

Streamlined management of building materials can reduce construction waste, while cutting the costs associated with wasting new materials.

GreenStock’s digital platform enables users to save materials, manage transport and storage, and gather documentation about the materials. It also provides data on the carbon reductions and financial savings generated through use of the platform.

Materials that can generally be recycled from construction sites include steel and concrete elements, aluminium, untreated timber, cardboard, paint and plastics. Leftover materials may include complete products, such as doors, windows, insulation, flooring and technical equipment.

GreenStock has completed development of the beta version of the platform and is testing it together with building developers. A fully developed solution for a public marketplace will be available by the end of 2020. The company is a member of NTNU Accel, an accelerator programme at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU).

GreenStock is targeting the Norwegian construction market which represent an annual revenue of NOK 466 billion (roughly USD 53.4 billion), Norway’s largest building suppliers which represent an annual revenue of NOK 29 billion (roughly USD 3.3 billion), as well as the home renovation market representing NOK 76 billion (roughly USD 8.7 billion). Around 10 per cent of materials from all building projects in Norway have the potential for direct reuse.