6 companies launch project for horizontal recycling of aluminium materials

On April 23, six companies—Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Company, Takenaka Corporation, Sankyo Tateyama, Shinwa, HARITA, and Hoei Metal—announced the launch of a demonstration project aimed at realising horizontal recycling of aluminium building materials from dismantled structures. This initiative is based on Takenaka Corporation’s “Circular Design Build” concept, a resource circulation effort that seeks to reuse construction materials from demolition sites as building resources once more.

The “Circular Design Build” framework promotes a sustainable architecture model that avoids reliance on the traditional scrap-and-build approach. It is structured around three core principles: “creating circulation,” “using circulation,” and “connecting circulation,” all aiming to maximise the reuse and recycling of building resources.

In this project, at the demolition site of a building owned by Meiji Yasuda, aluminium curtain walls will be independently dismantled and collected separately. Following this, the materials will undergo storage, management, transportation, and sorting processes, ultimately being supplied as high-quality raw materials to manufacturers.

While aluminium sashes and curtain walls inherently possess high recyclability due to their material properties, practical challenges have hindered their effective reuse. Constraints related to site space, project timelines, and the prioritisation of demolition efficiency often lead to the mixing of materials and their collective recovery as non-ferrous scrap. Additionally, aluminium construction materials collected domestically often flow overseas, limiting their contribution to Japan’s internal resource circulation. The high costs associated with extracting high-purity aluminium from scrap further exacerbate resource reuse inefficiencies.

Through this demonstration project, participants aim to advance dismantling and collection methods, establish logistics routes that ensure traceability, and identify and develop solutions for challenges in horizontal recycling. By accumulating technical and operational insights, the project aspires to position the horizontal recycling of aluminium building materials as a viable option and to offer products with the added value of being sustainable and circular.

Originally published on Circular Economy Hub.