Re-use of structural elements: Environmentally efficient recovery of building components

The depletion of non-renewable natural resources and generation of waste is one of the key issues to be addressed to achieve sustainable goals of the modern society. A great amount of natural resources consumption and a significant part of waste production is contributed to the building industry and infrastructure, in particular construction, maintenance and demolition. Moreover, production of building materials (even those with a high recycled content) consumes a lot of energy and produces harmful emissions. Therefore the efficient use of resources implies that the durable building materials and elements produced from such materials should be used as long as possible regardless of the limitation of the building service life. The most challenging building parts are the load-bearing structures because they need to satisfy high quality and strength, structural safety, stability and integrity requirements.