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Sustainable resource management: reducing waste and protecting the environment

Summary of the impact

Research carried out by the University of Southampton has directly influenced the practice and behaviour of households, business, industry and government agencies. It has:

  • Contributed to the 38% reduction of waste going to landfill and the 34% increase in recycling of municipal waste from 1995 to the present day.
  • Underpinned the development of anaerobic digestion of food waste from the laboratory bench to the UK Government's preferred treatment option for this type of waste in only 10 years.
  • Influenced landfill management and regulatory practices so as to improve resource recovery and reduce the long-term pollution potential.

Submitting Institution

University of Southampton

Unit of Assessment

General Engineering

Summary Impact Type

Environmental

Research Subject Area(s)

Engineering: Chemical Engineering, Environmental Engineering, Resources Engineering and Extractive Metallurgy

Treating waste with carbon dioxide

Summary of the impact

Accelerated Carbonation Technology (ACT) is an innovative solution to several key environmental issues - CO2 emissions to the atmosphere, sustainable use of resources and the reliance on use of virgin stone for construction. ACT rapidly stabilises industrial waste recycling it into valuable aggregate, thereby reducing the amount going to landfill. ACT simultaneously captures the greenhouse gas CO2, via the rapid production of carbonate, which solidifies the waste into a hardened product. ACT has been commercialised through two spin-out companies leading to the first commercial production of carbon negative concrete blocks, taking hazardous waste from the bottom to the top of the waste hierarchy.

Submitting Institution

University of Greenwich

Unit of Assessment

Chemistry

Summary Impact Type

Technological

Research Subject Area(s)

Chemical Sciences: Other Chemical Sciences
Engineering: Chemical Engineering, Environmental Engineering

Driving the waste reduction agenda: facilitated uptake by Local Authorities of knowledge, ideas and techniques for developing waste prevention plans

Summary of the impact

Wastes management represents a major global environmental challenge. In the early 2000s Defra recognised that the UK's emphasis needed to change from managing waste to preventing it arising, and that Local Authorities must be equipped to produce cost-effective waste reduction plans. To this end, WRAP (Waste and Resources Action Programme) financed a major Local Authority training programme involving the Centre for Sustainable Wastes Management (CSWM) due to its track record of research expertise. Evaluation of this training demonstrated that over 90% of 204 delegates (from 33% of Local Authorities) developed a deeper understanding of waste prevention and 41% consequently upgraded their plans, embedding sustainable practice into their organisations and reducing arisings. The ultimate impact of this has been to save Local Authorities money and reduce the amount of waste going to landfill.

Submitting Institution

University of Northampton

Unit of Assessment

Geography, Environmental Studies and Archaeology

Summary Impact Type

Environmental

Research Subject Area(s)

Engineering: Environmental Engineering

Driving Sustainable Waste Management Practices in Scotland

Summary of the impact

The impact of the research by the Caledonian Environment Centre can be demonstrated by the shift in Scotland's recycling rates from 4% in 1998 when the Centre was established, to 40% in 2011. The Centre's research methods were embedded in assessment tools which led to Scottish Councils being provided with £64m of additional annual funding. The Remade Scotland programme, hosted and developed by the Centre, between 2000 and 2010, delivered change as the first recyclate UK market development programme, and was further developed across the UK: two years later leading to the establishment of Waste Resources Action Programme (WRAP).

Submitting Institution

Glasgow Caledonian University

Unit of Assessment

Architecture, Built Environment and Planning

Summary Impact Type

Environmental

Research Subject Area(s)

Environmental Sciences: Environmental Science and Management

Treating waste with carbon dioxide: growth of spinout Carbon8 Systems

Summary of the impact

Carbon8 Systems (C8S) was founded on joint research between UCL and the University of Greenwich. The company has since developed a technology known as Accelerated Carbonation, which helps to reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions by using carbon dioxide gas to treat waste materials and form artificial aggregate. In January 2013, C8S completed the first commercial plant for treating municipal solid waste incinerator (MSWI) fly ashes, designed to produce 1,000 tonnes per day of aggregate. Masonry products company Lignacite has also benefited commercially. It has used C8S's aggregate to develop an award-winning building block that captures more carbon dioxide than is emitted during its manufacture. Carbon8 Systems and its offshoot company Carbon8 Aggregates currently employ 11 people.

Submitting Institution

University College London

Unit of Assessment

Aeronautical, Mechanical, Chemical and Manufacturing Engineering

Summary Impact Type

Technological

Research Subject Area(s)

Engineering: Environmental Engineering, Resources Engineering and Extractive Metallurgy

Radical energy, cost and water savings from recycling food waste

Summary of the impact

Research into a new waste treatment process model at Loughborough University (1993 to date) has resulted in the following benefits for Unilever:

  • Savings of £2m for wastewater treatment over the last 4 years
  • In 2012 additional savings of £0.2m from biogas and £0.1m in water supply and landfill costs
  • A reduction in carbon dioxide emissions of 10 million tonnes (2012) from the substitution of fossil fuels
  • Significant reductions in the risks of spills, sewer overloads and the recycling of scarce resources, namely water and fertilizer
  • Newly developed underpinning generic principles to be incorporated in updated designs and guides for users (to be published by Foundation for Water Research/ICE/CIWEM)
  • Researchers (five) being employed as a direct result of the specialised expertise gained and their ability to provide similar benefits to other sectors of industry

Submitting Institution

Loughborough University

Unit of Assessment

Civil and Construction Engineering

Summary Impact Type

Technological

Research Subject Area(s)

Engineering: Chemical Engineering, Environmental Engineering

Creative and technical research into silicates-based materials

Summary of the impact

Projects within the Silicates Research Unit have expanded the aesthetic and technical boundaries of ceramic materials and have had a significant impact on sustainable practices and materials within contemporary design. In response to increasingly stringent sustainable construction legislation, an AHRC Grant (£163,000) funded Binns and Bremner's development of a unique process for converting low-value mineral waste into high-value architectural products, avoiding reliance on non-replenishable materials.

Testing by the Environment Agency National Testing Laboratory has verified their innovative material meets British Standards for architectural materials (UK patent application, currently pending publication). It has also confirmed that the incorporation of Cathode Ray Tube (CRT) lead bearing glass (designated by the Environment Agency as hazardous waste) in the new material results in the lead content being safely encapsulated, offering a solution to the global problem of hazardous CRT waste glass recycling - allowing CRT glass to be re-classified as a safe raw material.

Submitting Institution

University of Central Lancashire

Unit of Assessment

Art and Design: History, Practice and Theory

Summary Impact Type

Technological

Research Subject Area(s)

Chemical Sciences: Analytical Chemistry
Engineering: Materials Engineering
Built Environment and Design: Design Practice and Management

Influence on UK Government’s Nuclear R&D Programmes and Policy

Summary of the impact

Through strategic national roles Grimes and Lee have had a major impact on the expansion of the UKs nuclear R&D programme since 2000 and on directing Government policy in the nuclear sector. Their research led directly to appointments to influential positions including (Grimes) as Specialist Advisor Nuclear to the House of Lords Science and Technology Committee (HoLSTC) for their report on Nuclear R&D Capabilities and (Lee) as Deputy Chair of the Government Advisory Committee on Radioactive Waste Management (CoRWM), which has a major scrutiny and advice role to Government's £multi-billion Managing Radioactive Waste Safely (MRWS) programme reporting directly to the Energy Minister. Due to his unique insight in nuclear engineering Grimes is now Chief Scientific Adviser to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

Submitting Institution

Imperial College London

Unit of Assessment

Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Metallurgy and Materials

Summary Impact Type

Political

Research Subject Area(s)

Chemical Sciences: Macromolecular and Materials Chemistry, Physical Chemistry (incl. Structural)
Engineering: Materials Engineering

Radiochemistry at Loughborough: Safeguarding the Environment, Shaping Policy, Training the Next Generation of Nuclear Specialists

Summary of the impact

Research at Loughborough University during the REF period (and extending back at least three decades beyond that) has had a significant impact on national and international policy decisions governing the management of radioactive waste, one of the Grand Challenges facing society. The Unit's research ranges from deep geological disposal to abatement of marine discharges and remediation strategies for industrial radioactive waste, the latter safeguarding the competitiveness of the oil & gas and mineral processing sectors. This input has been crucial for revising the new Environmental Permitting Regulations and International Basic Safety Standards. Many of the Unit's doctoral graduates occupy important decision-making roles at key organisations such as the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA), Sellafield, Environment Agency, CEA (France) and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

Submitting Institution

Loughborough University

Unit of Assessment

Chemistry

Summary Impact Type

Political

Research Subject Area(s)

Chemical Sciences: Analytical Chemistry
Engineering: Environmental Engineering, Resources Engineering and Extractive Metallurgy

Impact on the use of novel microwave systems for converting waste into energy

Summary of the impact

The demand for biofuels and alternative energies is increasing globally as a sustainable source of energy is sought for the future. Energy from crops is no longer a viable option due to the increase in wheat prices. Scientists at the BEST Research Institute have managed to bridge the gap by using novel and unique microwave systems for converting waste (biomass, food, animal) into energy. Our advances in this area have generated considerable interest from both national (e.g., United Utilities PLC, Balfour Beatty PLC, Biofuels Wales Ltd, Stopford Projects Ltd, Longma Clean Energy Ltd) and international (e.g., RIKEN-Japan, Fraunhofer-Germany, Sairem-France, Acondaqua-Spain, Ashleigh Farms-Ireland) companies. This has resulted in several collaborative, funded projects leading to industrial adoption of our microwave technologies.

Submitting Institution

Liverpool John Moores University

Unit of Assessment

Architecture, Built Environment and Planning

Summary Impact Type

Technological

Research Subject Area(s)

Chemical Sciences: Physical Chemistry (incl. Structural)
Engineering: Chemical Engineering
Technology: Industrial Biotechnology

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