Straightforward argument for material reuse; could be more squarely aimed at the construction sector
3 stars
Thomas Rau is an architect, and has spun off a little business consulting about materials reuse in the building sector. It boils down to making the manufacturer responsible for the entire product life cycle, from creation to usage to eventual (hopefully) re-use.
His book is short, snappy, to the point. I was already familiar with most of his anecdotes, which might be due to our similar cultural background.
He ends with the Universal declaration of Material Rights, which I find to be missing the mark. First of all, comparing material "abuses" (e.g. not reusing them) to human rights abuses is more than a bit unfortunate. Second of all, if you want to use legalese, at least specify what a material is! Is concrete a material, or should the cement that binds it be the material? The gypsum in the cement? Or perhaps the elemental Calcium in the gypsum?