Stop using virgin materials

Sumita Singha OBE, director of Ecologic Architects

In the midst of the pandemic, a report by think tank Circular Economy (The Circularity Gap Report 2020, January 2020) that humanity was quietly devouring the earth went unnoticed. While the amount of material consumed by humanity had passed 100 billion tonnes since 2017, the proportion being recycled was falling.

This meant virgin materials were being used up while building waste was growing. Half of this 100 billion tonnes was sand, clay, gravel and cement – all used for building

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