As the UK Government develops a new Circular Economy Strategy for England, the conversation around material use and reuse is gathering pace. The strategy will include action plans for several key sectors — including the built environment, where the opportunities for circularity are greatest.
Concrete — often seen as a linear material — is, in fact, already playing a pivotal role in this transition. As the backbone of the built environment, it offers a combination of durability, reusability and recyclability that make it an essential part of a circular future.
Built to Last, Built to Adapt
Circularity begins with keeping materials in use at their highest value for as long as possible — and concrete does this better than most.
Concrete structures are designed for longevity, with many remaining in service for 50, 100, or more years. Around the world, ancient examples of concrete still stand as testimony to its durability. In the UK, countless concrete buildings and bridges are being refurbished and repurposed, extending their life and avoiding the need for new materials altogether.
Reusing what we already have is the most effective form of circularity. By enabling adaptation, concrete ensures that buildings can evolve to meet new needs — from offices to homes, warehouses to creative spaces — without starting again from scratch.
Minimising Waste, Maximising Value
Where concrete structures do reach the end of their useful life, their material value is far from lost. Virtually no concrete goes to landfill in the UK. Instead, it is crushed and recycled, often as aggregate for engineering fill. This circular use of resources reduces demand for virgin materials and lowers the environmental footprint of new projects.
At the same time, the cement sector is a net user of waste — consuming millions of tonnes of waste-derived fuels and materials every year. This not only diverts waste from landfill but supports the decarbonisation of other industries, creating a wider network of industrial symbiosis.
Innovation Unlocking New Loops
Circularity is about continual improvement, and the industry is embracing innovation to circulate concrete in more sophisticated ways.
Emerging technologies are enabling better separation and recovery of both coarse and fine aggregates from end-of-life concrete — potentially allowing both to be reused directly in new concrete, not just as fill.
Research and pilot projects are also exploring direct reuse of whole concrete elements, such as beams and slabs, in new developments. Meanwhile, exploration continues into how waste materials from other industries can be used to enhance the properties and reduce the carbon of concrete such as biochar from spent coffee grounds and graphene and recycled steel fibres from tyres.
Enabling the Next Chapter of Circularity
The concrete sector has committed to enabling greater circularity within the UK Concrete Sustainable Construction Strategy, focusing on enhancing circularity through manufacture, design and construction using concrete, advancing the retention of concrete in the supply chain at its highest value, remaining a net user of waste and developing metrics, standards and policy requirements to support further improvement. This will be developed further as the sector updates its ‘Resource Efficiency Action Plans’ into a ‘Circular Economy Action Plan’.
To realise the full potential of these opportunities, policy must support all forms of circularity — from designing for retention and adaptation, to enabling reuse and high-value recycling.
The forthcoming Circular Economy Strategy for England has an opportunity to align incentives, remove barriers, and encourage collaboration across sectors. Circularity should be embedded from the earliest stages of design, not just considered when assets reach the end of life.
The concrete and cement industries stand ready to work with government, designers and clients to build circularity into every stage of a project’s journey — from concept to construction, use, and reuse.
The Backbone of a Circular Future
Concrete has long been the backbone of the built environment — shaping our homes, schools, hospitals, roads and infrastructure.
Now, as the UK moves towards a circular economy, it can continue that role: not as a challenge to overcome, but as an enabler of the change ahead.