The final Resource Recovery from Waste conference brought together five years of research to highlight the relevance of resource recovery for a clean, low-carbon and resource efficient economy.
A series of talks showcased the advances made by the RRfW projects:
- B3 worked on bio-recovery of base and platinum group metals, where excess or ‘wastes’ from one process became inputs for the nextalkaline residues which can offer opportunities in spite of being “challenging substrates”;
- INSPIRE project has developed low-energy methods for in situ resource recovery and introduced the idea of ‘precision mining’;
- Phil Purnell, University of Leeds, described the multidimensional CVORR sustainability assessment framework, highlighting its ability to pick out counterintuitive outcomes missed by other methods, giving examples in plastics and steel industries.
At the end, panel of experts discussed future research and innovation challenges for resource recovery. The panel ended with the presentation of the report: “What the people want from a resource efficient economy (Green Alliance)”.
The conference hosted more than 50 professionals: public bodies (such as Defra), research centers and universities, private organisations and institutions, and ONGs. RAWFILL partners presented the project during discussions with participants.
