Circular production model with sustainable materials

Natural resources are limited and global overconsumption is evident. A circular production model requires optimised material streams, and Bonava seeks to minimise the use of newly produced commodities in its production as much as possible, with the ultimate aim of achieving a closed-loop system. The use of materials constitutes a significant portion of Bonava’s indirect climate impact. Optimising the use of materials is therefore also important for achieving climate targets. 

Bonava defines sound materials as sustainable and non-hazardous materials that do the least harm to the external environment, are non-hazardous to the health of the people that handle them, and do not have a negative impact on the indoor environment. New variants of material and input substances are being developed, and legislation cannot always keep up; this is why the precautionary principle is central to environmental legislation as well as international standards and principles such as the UN Global Compact and ecolabelling.

Governance
The most important factor to govern is further development of our ability to automate the monitoring of the use of materials in order to further facilitate systematic enhancement of efficiency in building system development and the choice of construction methods as well as for governance. This ability is closely interlinked with digitalisation in general.  Ecolabelling constitutes an excellent tool for ensuring sound materials, either directly as certification or as a reference against which we can measure our own procedures and requirements for suppliers.

Evaluation
Bonava has produced methods that combine design information in the digital models with information from the project calculations prior to start of construction in order to determine the use of materials also for the markets where not all materials are purchased directly by the company itself. This makes it possible for us to compare the use of materials in different building systems and different geographic markets in order to monitor governance and to identify potential for improvement.  

We have developed a method for covering greater amounts of construction components than previously. We have also continued our efforts to sign framework agreements with waste management suppliers in markets where no such agreements previously existed, allowing us to monitor and improve our circularity and climate impact. 

GRI standard for sustainability reporting
Bonava reports annually for GRI indicator 301-1 Material consumption and 417-1 Information and labeling of products.