A material passport is a document consisting of all the

material Material is a substance or mixture of substances that constitutes an object. Materials can be pure or impure, living or non-living matter. Materials can be classified on the basis of their physical and chemical properties, or on their geolo ...

s that are included in a

product Product may refer to: Business * Product (business), an item that serves as a solution to a specific consumer problem. * Product (project management), a deliverable or set of deliverables that contribute to a business solution Mathematics * Produ ...

construction Construction is a general term meaning the art and science to form objects, systems, or organizations,"Construction" def. 1.a. 1.b. and 1.c. ''Oxford English Dictionary'' Second Edition on CD-ROM (v. 4.0) Oxford University Press 2009 and ...

. It consists of a set of data describing defined characteristics of materials in products, which give them value for recovery,

recycling Recycling is the process of converting waste materials into new materials and objects. The Energy recycling, recovery of energy from waste materials is often included in this concept. The recyclability of a material depends on its ability t ...

and re-use. The core idea behind the concept is that a material passport will contribute to a more

circular economy A circular economy (also referred to as circularity and CE) is a model of production and consumption, which involves sharing, leasing, reusing, repairing, refurbishing and recycling existing materials and products as long as possible. CE aim ...

, in which materials are being recovered, recycled and/or re-used in an open-traded material market. The concept of the 'material passport’ is currently being developed by multiple parties in mainly

European countries The list below includes all entities falling even partially under any of the various common definitions of Europe, geographical or political. Fifty generally recognised sovereign states, Kosovo with limited, but substantial, international rec ...

. A possible second-hand material market or material bank could become a reality in the future. Similar concepts are being developed by several parties. Other names for the material passport are: * Circularity passport *

Cradle-to-cradle Cradle-to-cradle design (also referred to as 2CC2, C2C, cradle 2 cradle, or regenerative design) is a biomimetic approach to the design of products and systems that models human industry on nature's processes, where materials are viewed as nutr ...

passport * Product passport

Significance

"According to

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoni ...

estimates, construction accounts for some 50 percent of

raw material A raw material, also known as a feedstock, unprocessed material, or primary commodity, is a basic material that is used to produce goods, finished goods, energy, or intermediate materials that are feedstock for future finished products. As feeds ...

consumption in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

and 60 percent of waste." Assuming that the earth is a closed system, this situation is objectively untenable. There is an urgent need to go about raw materials in a more intelligent way. A shift in the building sector would greatly benefit a situation towards needing less material, and using material more effectively, e.g. by ensuring a much longer and more useful life cycle. Proponents of the material passport argue that it is a step towards this direction. The material passport gives material an identity. By acknowledging that it exists, in a given form in a specific building, it ensures that material receives and keeps a value, e.g. through a possible re-use after the deconstruction of for example a building. Like a personal

passport A passport is an official travel document issued by a government that contains a person's identity. A person with a passport can travel to and from foreign countries more easily and access consular assistance. A passport certifies the personal ...

, the material passport allows the material to ‘travel,' or identifies the most useful future destination after it has served in a building. This could be in another building or in another product altogether. By recognizing the individual materials in buildings, new ownership structures could be facilitated that would enable more functions to be offered as a service. As lighting can be provided as a service, functions such as "shelter from elements" could be a service instead of owning a roof. In general, material passports create

incentive In general, incentives are anything that persuade a person to alter their behaviour. It is emphasised that incentives matter by the basic law of economists and the laws of behaviour, which state that higher incentives amount to greater levels of ...

s for

suppliers In commerce, a supply chain is a network of facilities that procure raw materials, transform them into intermediate goods and then final products to customers through a distribution system. It refers to the network of organizations, people, activ ...

to produce and developers / managers / renovators to choose healthy, sustainable and circular materials/building products. They fit into a broader and growing movement that aims at developing circular building

business model A business model describes how an organization creates, delivers, and captures value,''Business Model Generation'', Alexander Osterwalder, Yves Pigneur, Alan Smith, and 470 practitioners from 45 countries, self-published, 2010 in economic, soci ...

Applicability

The material passport can be applied to every product or construction. There are different levels in which a product/construct can be discomposed: *

Product Product may refer to: Business * Product (business), an item that serves as a solution to a specific consumer problem. * Product (project management), a deliverable or set of deliverables that contribute to a business solution Mathematics * Produ ...

level *

Component Circuit Component may refer to: •Are devices that perform functions when they are connected in a circuit. In engineering, science, and technology Generic systems * System components, an entity with discrete structure, such as an assem ...

level *

Material Material is a substance or mixture of substances that constitutes an object. Materials can be pure or impure, living or non-living matter. Materials can be classified on the basis of their physical and chemical properties, or on their geolo ...

level For a building, a material passport could be a complete description of all products (staircase, window, furnace, ...), components (iron beam, glass panel, ...), and raw materials (wood, steel, ...),that are present in the building. Ideally, this

database In computing, a database is an organized collection of data stored and accessed electronically. Small databases can be stored on a file system, while large databases are hosted on computer clusters or cloud storage. The design of databases ...

is created during construction and subsequently continuously kept up to date. In case an existing building does not yet have a material passport, it can be created through various methods (e.g. plan analysis, digital

3D scanning 3D scanning is the process of analyzing a real-world object or environment to collect data on its shape and possibly its appearance (e.g. color). The collected data can then be used to construct digital 3D modelling, 3D models. A 3D scanner can ...

). A material passport allows the owner of a product/construct to know exactly what it is made of. This is of importance at the end of its useful life, to enable the most effective re-use of the materials. It allows the owner to view a product/construct as a depot, inventory of valuable materials. Furthermore, the process of creating a material passport also shapes the

design A design is a plan or specification for the construction of an object or system or for the implementation of an activity or process or the result of that plan or specification in the form of a prototype, product, or process. The verb ''to design' ...

of the building. The easier the materials can be extracted and re-used, the better. This will lead to an increase of ‘recoverable’ or ‘reversible’ buildings, buildings that can be dis-assembled as easily as they were assembled. Another possibility is that a material passport enables the owner to get a better overview of value of the product/construct. Besides the value of the location and of the space, it can now also improve the valuation of the materials used. A higher, or more accurate, valuation of product/construct can be made possible.

Advantages and disadvantages

Advantages

* By having a material passport, one can anticipate on the deconstruction of the properties and ensure the highest possible usefulness of the materials used after having vacated premises. This is another way of being conscious about the footprint, and limiting our negative impact on the environment. * A more granular understanding of the construction of a building, might enable novel forms of financing that will support suppliers to provide a service rather than sell a product. * By reviewing how buildings are valued now, new financing products or financing policies (e.g. higher

collateral Collateral may refer to: Business and finance * Collateral (finance), a borrower's pledge of specific property to a lender, to secure repayment of a loan * Marketing collateral, in marketing and sales Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Collate ...

value) can be developed that better reflect the (financial) value of buildings. * The recovery of a collateral in case of default might improve through the sale of the parts instead of the building as a whole.

Disadvantages

* A passport needs to be kept up to date and maintained throughout a building's life. It is not known yet how work intensive this is, but for it to remain relevant, all changes to the building that happened after the passport was created, need to be logged. Potentially the value of this work will only be apparent at the end of the useful life of a building, which might be several decades away. * The market for second hand materials is still in its infancy, and currently not able to support the optimal re-use of the materials in a building. Also, much more

standardization Standardization or standardisation is the process of implementing and developing technical standards based on the consensus of different parties that include firms, users, interest groups, standards organizations and governments. Standardizatio ...

, at least at the level of

components Circuit Component may refer to: •Are devices that perform functions when they are connected in a circuit. In engineering, science, and technology Generic systems *System components, an entity with discrete structure, such as an assemb ...

, will be needed to increase the re-use the materials in a

building A building, or edifice, is an enclosed structure with a roof and walls standing more or less permanently in one place, such as a house or factory (although there's also portable buildings). Buildings come in a variety of sizes, shapes, and func ...

. * There is no

for material passports yet. Passports might therefore prove to have limited usefulness when ultimately needed, due to evolving requirements, or require additional

investment Investment is the dedication of money to purchase of an asset to attain an increase in value over a period of time. Investment requires a sacrifice of some present asset, such as time, money, or effort. In finance, the purpose of investing is ...

s during the life of the building to keep them up to market standard. *

Legislation Legislation is the process or result of enrolling, enacting, or promulgating laws by a legislature, parliament, or analogous governing body. Before an item of legislation becomes law it may be known as a bill, and may be broadly referred to ...

needs to be put in place, to support more

sustainable building Green building (also known as green construction or sustainable building) refers to both a structure and the application of processes that are environmentally responsible and resource-efficient throughout a building's life-cycle: from planni ...

, enable the development of services instead of ownership, ... and support a broad deployment of material passports. * The

infrastructure Infrastructure is the set of facilities and systems that serve a country, city, or other area, and encompasses the services and facilities necessary for its economy, households and firms to function. Infrastructure is composed of public and priv ...

, mainly IT, to support material passports still needs to be created. The first scientific publication about a material passport (2012) was written by Maayke Damen and is called
A resources passport for a circular economy
. It provides a comprehensive overview of the advantages and disadvantages of a material passport for every actor in the supply chain. It includes an outline for the content of a material passport.

Projects

NL

* Turntoo: consultancy firm established by Thomas Rau, that offers services and concepts optimising the continuity of life on earth. The development of material passports as a product is one of them. Thomas Rau's system is called MADASTER. * COFA Nederland: Initiative of FBBasic and A. van Liempd demolition contractors to develop a more circular way of demolition and re-use of materials. * Concept House Village (RDM)

EU

* BAMB 2020: Buildings as Material Banks, an EU funded project bringing together 16 European parties (universities, building, it companies, consultants, policy makers). Partners: Brussels Environment, EPEA Nederland, Vrije UNiversiteit Brussel, BRE, ZUYD Hogeschool, IBM, SundaHus, Ronneby Kommun, Technical University of Munich, Universiteit Twente, Universidade do Minho, Sarajevo Green Design Foundation, Drees & Sommer, VITO, BAM Construct UK, Aurubis. * EPEA (also partner of BAMB): An internationally active scientific research and consultancy institute that works with actors and companies from economy, politics and science and support them for the introduction of circular processes, using the cradle-to-cradle design approach. * Maersk Line (sea-vessels): The world's largest container shipping company. They focus on vessel recycling and re-use. * ActNow: A business-driven non-profit partnership consisting of businesses, NGOs and municipalities. Act NOW's agenda focuses on enhancing the implementation of existing energy-efficient solutions and products NOW.

External links

BAMB2020 Material passports

References

{{Reflist Construction Material handling