New Zealand: Recycled materials a must for quake-strengthened buildings - expert
By Charlie Dreaver
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Professor Alessandro Palermo, who lectures in structural and earthquake engineering at Canterbury University, wants new buildings to have more recycled materials.
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Professor Palermo said using recycled materials wasn't necessarily happening at the moment in Christchurch.
"We have all these buildings built with steel and those buildings are not, in my point of view, very sustainable because most of the steel It's not very carbon neutral," he said.
He and his colleague, Gabriele Chiaro, are investigating the perfect mix of recycled tyres and aggregate to make a concrete and soil layer which could act as a shock absorber during an earthquake. The project is being funded by a MBIE Smart Ideas grant with the research being led by Mr Chiaro.
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