Cambridge UK: Cambond Ltd and Evolve Packaging are launching a project funded by Innovate UK to help solve the world’s biggest environmental and climate change problems.
The mission is to find partners with existing re-cycling, manufacturing and retail facilities that can be linked together to form a circular economy that can deal with plastics pollution in an effective, sustainable and profitable way.
We live in the ‘anthropocene age’1 – a time where human technology and exploitation of resources have change the surface and environment of our planet.
The consumption of fossil fuels has driven climate change altering our environment. Drilling spills, mining spoil, power generation ash, paper and plastics manufacturing have produced contaminated land and pollution of the oceans by plastics.
No country has a re-cycling system efficient enough to avoid the accumulation of wastes.
Plastics, once symbolic of modern life, are now regarded as a curse of the Anthropocene age. Re-cycling rates are low (<30%) and the bulk of this ‘modern miracle’ material (>60%) is burnt or sent to landfill, generating millions of tonnes of CO2, hazardous microplastics and global environmental pollution.
We are looking to tackle this problem by applying innovation. By linking existing expertise in retail, re-cycling and manufacturing we could take plastics destined for burning or landfill RDF (refuse derived fuels) and turn them into valuable products for consumers.
Our project is looking for partners to develop Anthropocene mining.
Anthropocene wastes are a valuable resource
Anthropocene wastes can be used for making products – they can be mined
Anthropocene materials can replace virgin materials in products
Anthropocene mined products can be re-cycled to create a circular economy
Turning Anthropocene wastes into products provides a potent reason to invest in and scale existing businesses to manufacturing low carbon, re-cycled plastic products and build a sustainable circular economy for a new world.
Notes For Editors
1https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthropocene
- Anthropocene Mining – The sustainable valorisation of past, present and future waste streams as materials for manufacture and industry using innovative technologies and circular economy principles. – Dr G W Roberts – Cambond Ltd
Cambond Ltd and Evolve Packaging were awarded a grant from Innovate UK (Project 53212).
Competition: ISCF smart sustainable plastic packaging: feasibility studies and industrial research
CONTACTS
Rob Poole Evolve Packaging rob.poole@evolvepackaging.co.uk 44 7710927118
Dr. Gareth Roberts – Cambond Ltd, groberts@cambond.co.uk 44 7779257636
