It is stated that Sweden is the leading country for the European Union when it
comes to recycling and sorting. However, tonnes of waste are still being deposited
to be incinerated instead of being reused or recycled. There are two reasons that
are mentioned in this thesis. The first one is because of the large percentage of the
municipal waste is sorted as non-recyclable thus, the solution to get rid of the waste
existence is through incineration. Secondly, demolition of buildings is a large source
to the amount of waste that is incinerated. Architects have even criticised the act of
demolishing buildings when they have a huge potential to be used and solve increasing
demands of residential buildings in Sweden. Even construction companies have tried
to focus on solutions in which they recycle remains from demolished constructions
into new materials for future projects. Still, there are still a demand of mining resources
instead of using resources that are already used, which on its own has an impact on our
already fragile environment.
If we observe how architects, designers, construction engineers outside of Sweden
tackles these problems. The conclusion is that they use more out of the box solutions by
using waste that is not only caused by the construction industry alone, but also caused
by the individuals who live in the country. While Sweden mainly focuses on preventing
mining of resources used for construction work by recycled remains from other
constructions. The rest of the world does not only implement this type of waste, but also
all sorts of waste. Still, at the end, Sweden is stated to be one of the greatest countries
when it comes to sorting waste.
The law of banning non-certified disposable products made of plastic was finalised
in the beginning of this year. It was recommended to not purchase or use products
of this type if they were manufactured before the law came into action. Though what
will happen with these products if they cannot be used, and people want to get rid
of them? This thesis will answer these questions by combining the world of recycling
with the world of architecture. This thesis is an experimental research based on the
three methods of recycling waste into building material. The experimental research will
visualise how disposable waste made of plastics can be implemented by using these
methods, while also following the requirements of a sustainable construction material
and product made in Sweden.