Looking to be more sustainable and cost effective with your build? Kate Sandhu delves into what you need to know about sourcing second-hand and recycled materials

This preloved Neptune Chichester kitchen has been reinstalled in its new home and repainted using Neptune Shell paint. All the kitchen cabinetry, appliances, double sink, taps and marble work tops were from Rehome.co.uk and cost a total of £18,000

Out with the new and in with the old! When self building or renovating, it’s long been the done thing to buy everything brand new. That approach has had its day and now we’re well in the preloved era for many things – clothes, toys... and the same goes for building materials and interior elements.

What are second-hand/ recycled materials?

There are many words banded about in this space: pre -loved, second-hand, antique, recycled; the list goes on. Most of the terms above (aside from recycled) refer to an item that has been previously owned (but not necessarily used), whether that be in recent years or a long time ago. Recycled items (or sometimes just parts of them) are made from materials that have been broken down from their original form and used in a different way (for example, a plastic bottle becomes part of a chair).

In between these terms sits reclaimed, which refers to something reused in its same form (ie a brick) for either a new purpose (taking part of a wall and making it into a pizza oven) or the original purpose (reusing bricks from an original wall to construct a new one).

Using second-hand materials is more sustainable as energy/carbon is used to produce new things, plus you’re giving extra life to something that would otherwise go to waste. The same is true with recycled or reclaimed materials, although there could be energy used in the production process of turning a material into something else. That said, it’s important to make sure that the items you’re buying really do tick the sustainable box.