BTP: deconstruct rather than demolish

Each year in France, the building produces 46 million tonnes of waste. In comparison, households produce 30 million tonnes. Costs, constraints, lack of infrastructure: building waste is a headache for professionals and the state. How to treat them? Who should pay? 

A large part, the most profitable, like concrete, is now recycled. But there are still large quantities of wood, plaster, glass, not to mention polluting waste such as asbestos, paints or glues. 

These materials sometimes end up in uncontrolled landfills, like the one visited by the “Element Earth” team. Around Paris, there would be no less than 130. The phenomenon, illegal, has become uncontrollable.

“Element Earth” explores a line of thought: deconstruct rather than demolish. Report at the Cite Gagarine in Ivry-sur-Seine, a new model.