Call for recycling inventions

Imperial Innovations Group today launched a nationwide call for recycling propositions that have the potential to make a significant difference in reducing the amount of waste going to landfill in the UK.

Up to £100,000 worth of commercial support is being offered to successful applicants by the Imperial Innovations Recycling Commercialisation Centre (IIRCC) to bring their ideas, technologies or products to market.

The IIRCC will help successful applicants by providing market intelligence on the technology or product; identifying and securing intellectual property; building the business case; funding product demonstration and proof of concept; and identifying and securing seed finance.

As government, companies, and individuals move towards materials reuse and recycling, waste is increasingly being seen as a resource. The entire UK recycled product industry is already a £12bn market. The specialist non-metal recyclate reprocessing sector is currently worth £1.2bn annually and will need to increase in size by 60% by 2020 if the UK is to meet its obligations under the European legislation on recycling.

Local authorities are working to reduce waste generation and better handle existing waste as they strive to comply with government legislation. Waste issues have also risen to the top of the agenda for businesses as they attempt to address how operations can be transformed to eliminate waste.

To date Imperial Innovations has engaged an array of ideas from sectors such as construction, retail manufacturing and local authority services. Examples include technologies to devulcanise end of use tyres for reuse in new tyre manufacture; to use waste glass in the manufacture of building products with greater than 97% recycled content; and to develop value added products from paper sludges and aggregates.

 - Readers with potential propositions should contact Glenn Janes, IIRCC Manager, via email g.janes@imperial.ac.uk.

Propositions must relate to the recycling of one or more of the following waste streams: plastics, glass, paper, aggregates, wood, aggregates, organic waste, gypsum board, tyres, batteries, waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) and end of life vehicles (ELV). The IIRCC will assess the propositions and decide whether the recycling invention is suitable and work with the candidate to complete an application form.