From 360 (10/6/24) …
How to build a circular economy
Microfactories, an innovative approach to extracting value from waste materials, point the way to sustainable production and consumption.
At a waste depot in Shoalhaven, NSW, 200 km south of Sydney, old mattresses, fabric and dirty glass left over from household recycling are being transformed into something completely different: Green Ceramics, a versatile commercial product.
These high-performance, nontoxic hybrids can be used for a variety of architectural and decorative applications, including furniture and ceramic tiles. The materials that go into them are difficult to recycle using traditional methods, which means they usually end up in landfills. But now they have a new purpose.
The Shoalhaven Green Ceramics Microfactorie, which went online in October last year, is among the first of its kind. It was developed through a partnership between the local city council, Kandui Technologies and UNSW’s Sustainable Materials and Technology (SMaRT) Centre, a research centre aimed at translating new recycling science into real-world environmental and economic benefits. The partnership has been supported by UNSW, EPA Trust, OCSE, and recently the Trailblazer for Recycling and Clean Energy.
This Microfactorie can process around 450 tonnes of glass, mattresses and other textiles per year, but it is part of a much bigger concept – the movement towards a ‘circular economy’, which would get rid of the ‘throw-away’, consumer economy that relies on continuous extraction and use of raw materials and production of huge amounts of waste.
Instead, production and consumption are aimed at minimising resource extraction, cutting down waste and lowering carbon emissions. Sustainability in every step in the cycle is the goal.
