Developments that use large-scale recycled materials are becoming more common. From recycled plastics to sustainably-sourced wood, the similar initiatives who promote the positive reuse of goods, construction projects incorporating a green touch not only provide an environmentally friendly option but demonstrate that it’s important to design developments with the future in mind.

Here are three developments and initiatives from around the world that have taken this a step further and shown that things can be created on a large scale by utilising lots of recycled materials.

1. Carbis Bay, Cornwall

A stone’s throw from St Ives, Carbis Bay is tucked just around the corner from the Cornish gem. A recent development has seen the hotel – which shares its name with the beach – have a new terrace erected. The new terrace – which borders the edge of the hotel as it meets the beach – is made using 2.7 million used plastic straws, which have been crushed down to mix with the epoxy-resins and bind with the material, which saves a huge amount of money as well as needless waste.

This pathway on Carbis Bay beach has made the equivalent of 2.7 million straws.

What other developments have been engineered using recycled materials? pic.twitter.com/T5pNPGI6I5

— Easystore (@easystore_uk) July 16, 2020

A true Cornish triumph!

2. Eskilstuna, Sweden

The large city in Sweden is home to a shopping centre called ReTuna Aterbruksgalleria, which only sells upcycled, recycled, or sustainable merchandise. The general public drops off goods they no longer want or need at a designated recycling depot, where the items can be repaired and re-sold in some of the shops within the shopping centre. If any goods can’t be sold, they are donated to needy institutions or organisations, or recycled.

3. Bloomington, Minnesota

(Pictured above, at the top of this post)

One of the greenest developments of its kind in the US, the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota is one of the country’s largest shopping centres and it has a huge sustainable initiative at its core. The shopping centre – or “mall” if you’re using the local lingo – has LED parking garage lighting, water-efficient toilets, and thousands of air-purifying plants and trees.

However, the biggest recycling initiative is in what happens with the leftover food… The mall annually recycles more than 2,400 tons of food waste by donating it to local hog farms, keeping farmers (and their pigs!) very happy indeed.

Find out more (and see a video) on their website.

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