New technologies and how to build a circular economy – Recycling International

The year 2019 is shaping up as a tipping point for action to address the challenges surrounding global sustainability and waste management. This positive development comes as discussion among governments, researchers, not-for-profits and corporates is shifting towards a can do attitude to reducing waste and changing attitudes, behaviours and practices.

This article was published in Recycling Technology / Reading time: 5 min.

A new groundswell isunderway across the globe as corporates, communities and societies are movingfrom the linear economic approach of make, use, dispose to a circular economywhere the aspiration is to keep materials out of landfill and incinerators, andin use for as long as possible.

Realisation of the need to close the economic loop so that used materials and waste streams are treated as the renewable resources they truly are is dawning on decision-makers the world over. This coincides with increased scientific focus on, and business innovation around, viewing waste as a commodity to better manage long-term social, environmental and economic impacts.

For instance, new technology and capability derived from the Centre for Sustainable Materials Research and Technology (SMaRT) at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) in Sydney, Australia, can produce building panels from old clothing and textiles, as well as plastics, waste timber and glass.

This Microfactory technology can transform waste glass into engineered flat ceramic products, which have been used to make stools and table-tops, as well as for decorative purposes. They are now also being tested for flooring and walling applications.

It can also transformelectronic waste such as phones, laptops and printers into high-quality plasticfilaments for 3D printing, and to extract and reform metal alloys from printedcircuit boards, eliminating the need for conventional smelting technologies.

These scientificallydeveloped microrecycling processes can provide game-changing solutions toproduce materials from waste on a small scale, and demonstrate that a period ofdisruption is underway.

A key challenge is to harness the commercial appetite and opportunity to create value from the materials that end up in landfill to ensure societies divert at scale the waste that can be reformed into new, valued-added materials, products and manufacturing feedstock.

This involves actively working with companies and organisations seeking to enshrine circular economy principles in their operations so they can know who are the other participants in these new supply chains, understand where and how they fit in, and what the opportunities are.

The main difficulty is there are so many stakeholdersacross all the supply chains that there is no effective connectivity processfor circular economy participants. For example, an organisation with a wasteproblem might be able to send these materials to another company which is ableto use them in its operations, but there is no awareness of this win-winsolution within local economies.

Another challenge is the need to encourage designers andproducers of products, packaging and applicable services to build in from thevery beginning of the product lifecycle a consideration for how all of thematerials used will become part of the circular economy when an end-user has nofurther need for the product and treats it as waste.

Chinas National Sword policy banning other countries from sending their waste to that country is being replicated across Asia, and the silver lining in this development has been to cause an acceleration of positive reform around waste and recycling policy among many national, state and local governments.

In Australia, thenational government re-elected in May 2019 announced the countrys first-everministerial role for waste reduction, to be connected to its foreshadowedWaste Recycling Investment Plan. Each of the state governments in Australia nowalso has circular economy policies and statements, and is working hard tochange the value chain around waste.

Another positivedevelopment has been the establishment of dedicated initiatives to createnetworks and hubs that bring together the various stakeholders across supplychains so as to work together to find the opportunities necessary to makechanges that not only reduce waste but also ensure it can be valued and used asa renewable resource through circular solutions.

In the state of New South Wales (NSW), for example, weare working hard to close the loop wherever possible on materials in localeconomies by building awareness and new connections to create value-addedproducts through materials reuse or transformation, particularly for materialswhich can be directed into high-quality manufacturing solutions.

I was honoured to be appointed in March this year as theDirector of the new government-funded NSW Circular Economy Innovation Network, whichhas been tasked with helping drive this change across Australias largest state.

At an international level, there has been growingmomentum in this space. This type of work is perhaps best known through UNEnvironment, the World Economic Forum and the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, withinitiatives such as the Platform for Accelerating the Circular Economy. However,small-scale actions and solutions through market-based networks like ours arerequired to meet the needs of local businesses that make up the majority ofeconomies.

In March 2019, the European Commission adopted acomprehensive report on the implementation of the Circular Economy Action Plan,which presents its main achievements so far and sketches out future challengesto developing circular economies to reduce pressure on natural and freshwaterresources, as well as ecosystems.

To demonstrate the growing importance of circular economyprinciples, a new Technical Committee under the International Organization forStandardization was announced in July 2019 with the objective to help make theglobal circular economy a reality by steering local projects towards asustainable, agreed global standard.

Known as ISO/TC 323 Circular Economy, this TechnicalCommittee will develop requirements, frameworks, guidance and support tools,with the aim of ensuring implementation of UN Sustainable Development Goals.The Committee comprises experts from over 65 countries, with Australia sittingas an observer member.

So while there is growing concern around the need forgreater sustainability, I actually see 2019 as a tipping point year when themomentum of change is starting to crystallise the concept of a circulareconomy. This is a period of disruption we must have.

The bottom line is a circular economy creates local jobs,enhances the economy, and improves social and environmental wellbeing. The paceof change must accelerate into the next decade so we can live more sustainablyand harmoniously on our planet.

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New technologies and how to build a circular economy - Recycling International