
The feasibility of pipe reuse depends on their type, size, location, and desired function and needs to be assessed individually. This is why it is advised to engage contractors specialised in pipelaying to evaluate the potential for pipe reuse on-site and, if positive, dismantle the pipe themselves as they hold the best qualifications to do so in a way that the pipe will not be damaged. Consequently, the desire to reuse pipes has to be expressed early in the project.
How to reuse and recycle
when harvesting, keep standardised sizes;
sort out harvested pipes according to their function;
protect from damage during transport and storage;
before disassembly, clean the pipes.
One of the recommendations from ENTRA's KA13 project, a Norwegian complete full-scale circular project, is to engage pipelaying experts in harvesting pipes for reuse. This can help avoid mistakes such as cutting pipes into smaller pieces with unstandardised sizes, thus increasing the workload of pipelayers to join them again (which happened in the project) and increasing the costs of the assembly phase.
Sources and further reading
2) Bengt ÅTERBRUKSGUIDEN FÖR INSTALLATIONER, 2022.
3) IVL Svenska Miljöinstitutet. Arbetsguide - Återbruk av fasta interiöra byggprodukter, 2018.
4) IVL Svenska Miljöinstitutet. BYGGÅTERBRUKSGUIDEN - En vägledning för att underlätta återbruk av byggprodukter i bostäder, 2021.
5) CCBuild. Återbruk av VVS-produkter - Demonterings- och hanteringsinstruktioner, 2018.
6) Erfaringsrapport ombruk (Eng. Experience report reuse) - Kristian Augusts gate 13, 2021.
7) Circle House - Denmark's first circular housing project, 2018.
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