WHEN OLD BUILDINGS ARE DEMOLISHED, NEW LIFE IS CREATED
2023-03-28
At the beginning of January 2023, the demolition of older buildings on ESBE’s adjacent property began with the help of external demolition contractors. Large parts of the demolition material were offered to ESBE employees and ESBE pensioners for reuse for their own DIY projects.
Old details get new life through recycling
The interest in recycling has been great among the employees. Everything from kitchen equipment, workbenches and lamps to bricks and windows were demolished with precision and then employees were allowed to pick up what they expressed an interest in. Some of the material was free, some was paid for through contributions to the Swedish Childhood Cancer Fund .
Christer Skogsfors, who is in charge of the ESBE demolition project, says that much of the material, for example the recycled windows and bricks, will be used for greenhouses. One of the larger projects is a 40 square meter orangery, where the bricks will be used both for the foundation and for the chimney for a stove.
“The environmental aspect of recycling is important, but it also creates a wonderful feeling to reuse bricks with so much history in them”, says Henrik Hallberg, who will build the orangery.
He has researched and concluded that the bricks come from different Swedish brickworks and therefore the bricks have different shades and structure.
- My creativity will bubble up when they have to be put together into a neat pattern.
Before that, 3,000 bricks must be cleaned of mortar, a job that Henrik estimates will take him between 50-100 working hours! The greenhouse will also be decorated with nine beautiful windows from the old ESBE building, plastered and repainted. Hopefully, an orangery will be ready by the fall and can start blooming by the summer of 2024!
ESBE secures the future through carefully executed demolition
The demolition is step 1 of a land preparation project for possible further expansion of ESBE’s factory area. The hired project manager for both demolition and future earthworks is Alexander Andersson from the company ENTHR. The demolition is carried out by Jansson Entreprenad and takes place in a planned, skilled and careful manner. Early during the project, an inventory was made by the consulting firm Sweco of which hazardous waste may occur and which materials can be reused or recycled.
Demolition waste is one of the heaviest and most extensive waste streams generated within the EU, but by recycling and reusing the demolition waste, ESBE does what we can to reduce that climate footprint.
