Environmental benefits of component reuse over material recycling in ecologically sensitive regions: A circular economy case study of timber and steel yurts
Source abstract
Abstract
Component reuse is widely regarded as a core strategy for advancing the construction sector toward a Circular Economy (CE), particularly in ecologically sensitive grassland regions where it has considerable potential to generate environmental benefits. However, due to the uncertainty associated with end-of-life dismantling losses, the specific advantages of component reuse over conventional material recycling have not yet been quantified in a scientifically robust manner. This study aims to verify whether component reuse still maintains significant and robust environmental advantages over material recycling when realistic losses are taken into account.To address this issue, a Scenario-based Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) model was developed, and the system expansion approach (EN 15804 Module D) was introduced to account for cross-life-cycle substitution benefits. The study evaluated the environmental benefits of the light-timber pole-type yurt, designed for Design for Disassembly (DfD) and representing component reuse, and systematically compared it with the steel yurt, which is widely used in the same grassland region and represents material recycling. In addition, robustness analyses were conducted to test the stability of the comparative results under parameter variations.The results show that, even under realistic loss conditions, component reuse reduces Global Warming Potential (GWP) by 89% relative to material recycling, while also significantly improving all other key environmental indicators.This study fills an important gap in the evaluation of the environmental benefits of component reuse over conventional material recycling under realistic loss conditions. It also provides strong quantitative support for moving beyond downcycling-dominated practices and for promoting DfD-based sustainable construction and resource-efficient utilization in grassland regions and other ecologically sensitive regions.
Source: openalex_inverted_index · Quality: baseline
Research context
OpenAlex topics: Sustainable Industrial Ecology · Sustainable Supply Chain Management · Recycling and utilization of industrial and municipal waste in materials production
SciVX discovery tags are terminology-based. OpenAlex topics are source-provided classifications.
References (92)
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