Review of Material Passports and Their Application in Industrialised Construction: Enhancing Material Circularity in Construction

Abhishek Kc (), Sepani Senaratne, Srinath Perera and Samudaya Nanayakkara
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Abhishek Kc: Center for Smart Modern Construction (c4SMC), School of Engineering, Design and Built Environment, Western Sydney University, Kingswood, NSW 2747, Australia
Sepani Senaratne: Center for Smart Modern Construction (c4SMC), School of Engineering, Design and Built Environment, Western Sydney University, Kingswood, NSW 2747, Australia
Srinath Perera: Center for Smart Modern Construction (c4SMC), School of Engineering, Design and Built Environment, Western Sydney University, Kingswood, NSW 2747, Australia
Samudaya Nanayakkara: Center for Smart Modern Construction (c4SMC), School of Engineering, Design and Built Environment, Western Sydney University, Kingswood, NSW 2747, Australia

Sustainability, 2025, vol. 17, issue 12, 1-21

Abstract: Construction industry largely produces long-life, unique, and inflexible products; and combined with dispersed supply chains, it makes material tracking difficult. Thus, to achieve a circular economy (CE) in construction, there is a need for managing material information at the asset level to support reuse and recovery. This study explores the solutions for a CE in construction, and adopts a critical review, and a systematic search and review process. Initially the critical review for CE solutions revealed that maintaining authentic material information via material passports (MPs) and adopting industrialised construction (IC) for resource efficiency and flexibility are the key actions for CE implementation. As initial findings suggested the implementation of MPs in IC as imperative for a CE in construction, it was deemed necessary to develop a framework for MPs’ creation and management in IC. Thus, a further critical review was conducted to explore MPs and IC in detail, and a systematic search and review process extracted the actual information that goes into MPs, which was further categorised under various IC lifecycle processes at different stages of lifecycle, to present the incorporation of MPs into IC. The knowledge of MP processes and information in IC from this review is the vital component for the development of a necessary information management framework for MPs. This study can also be a basis for further research on the application of digital technologies and managerial actions required to realise operational MPs in IC, which is required for material circularity in construction.

Keywords: circular economy; prefabricated construction; modular construction; material passports; material information (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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