Materials used in buildings are often more or less considered "spent", and no longer considered valuable resources. This presents a blockade to recycling and reusing materials, because they are neglected in economic calculations. Even when attempting to reuse materials, it is hard to do so when materials are not being systematically categorised and counted, because the presence and the value of materials is not always known.

Madaster's material passports create a registry of what materials are present in a building, and together form a database to assess the value of the total stock of materials in an area. This makes it easier for recyclers to assess the value of reusing the materials in a building. It also leads to a new view of construction materials, as the building passport makes it obvious that the materials used in buildings still have a value and can be reused. This increase of awareness together with making it easier to recycle encourage more circular construction.