UCL leads research for a circular economy in three UK industries

UCL is playing a leading role in three out of five new circular economy research centres funded by the UK government to help reduce waste, energy and pollution in UK industries. Through £22.5 million of investment, the Government is establishing five UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) Interdisciplinary Circular Economy Centres to drive sustainability in the textiles, construction, chemical and metal industries. The Interdisciplinary Circular Economy Centre for Mineral-based Construction Materials is led by Professor Julia Stegemann (UCL Civil, Environmental & Geomatic Engineering) and aims to develop systems and technologies for more efficient use and recovery of mineral resources. UCL is also a partner in a new centre focused on textiles, which seeks to reduce the UK's reliance on imported and environmentally and ethically impactful clothing materials and develop new "designed and made in the UK" industries; and another for metals, which will look at how metals can be recycled for use in sectors such as aerospace, automotive and electronics. A circular economy is an alternative to the traditional make-use-dispose economy in which resources are maintained in use at high value, with continual recovery and cycling of man-made materials, and cascading cycling of renewable materials. Professor Stegemann said: "The UK extracts more than half a million tonnes of construction materials each day, and generates 154 million tonnes of mineral wastes annually. This is  unsustainable.