The amount of waste generated by the construction sector underscores an urgent need for embracing circularity ' a sustainable model that aims to minimize waste and maximize material efficiency through recovery and reuse ' in the built environment: 600 million tons of construction and demolition waste was produced in the United States alone in 2018, with 820 million tons reported in the European Union, and an excess of 2 billion tons annually in China. This significant resource loss embedded in our current industrial ecosystem marks a linear economy that operates on a 'take-make-dispose' model of construction; in contrast, the 'make-use-reuse' approach of a circular economy offers an important opportunity to reduce environmental impacts. A team of MIT researchers has begun to assess what may be needed to spur widespread circular transition within the built environment in a new open-access study that aims to understand stakeholders' current perceptions of circularity and quantify...
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