Details of Award
NERC Reference : NE/K015877/1
Transition of WEEE to the Circular Economy
Grant Award
- Principal Investigator:
- Professor SM Grimes, Imperial College London, Civil & Environmental Engineering
- Co-Investigator:
- Professor C Cheeseman, Imperial College London, Civil & Environmental Engineering
- Grant held at:
- Imperial College London, Civil & Environmental Engineering
- Science Area:
- Earth
- Terrestrial
- Overall Classification:
- Earth
- ENRIs:
- Biodiversity
- Environmental Risks and Hazards
- Global Change
- Natural Resource Management
- Pollution and Waste
- Science Topics:
- Product Design
- Waste Management
- Manufact. Business Strategy
- Materials Processing
- Technol. for Environ. Appl.
- Abstract:
- The proposed activities will address a number of key questions: a) What is the current fate of the resources in WEEE? b) How is WEEE going to change between now and beyond 2020? c) How can the management of WEEE be transformed by 2020 so that key resources are extracted and remain part of a circular economy? (d) What would be the optimum resource recovery system for WEEE beyond 2020, and what research is required to make this viable? (e) How will increased resource efficiency and energy savings benefit society and reduce environmental impact? The answers to these questions require the production of a detailed knowledge base to build inter-disciplinary research plans to inform future research involving appropriate partners. The key underlying activities include: (i) A Launch event at which keynote presentations will be given to set the context and rationale for the proposed research, to agree the scope of work, to define the criteria against which priority decisions will be made, and to ratify the approach to be adopted and the allocation of responsibilities; (ii) Evidence gathering and (iii) Data interpretation through desk-based research of primary, secondary and technical literature, personal communication, stakeholder interviews, case study visits to producers and handlers of WEEE, OEM's etc; development and application of mind mapping tools as a basis for informed scientific decisions at policy, regulatory and operational levels in terms of overall vision, impact relationships and stakeholder engagement, and to identify clusters of common interest. Inherently, there is a need to understand the current composition, volume and fate of WEEE, the technologies, processes and systems, existing and under development for the recovery of key value components from WEEE, and the environmental and health impacts of end-of-life treatment methods and benefits through reduced use of virgin materials; (iv) Themed Workshops to be held at ICL focusing on the 5 key research questions will involve brainstorming sessions (making use of virtual meetings, as appropriate) with all partners to prioritise key value component streams of strategic importance to the economy and natural ecosystems; investigate potential routes/process technologies that maximise the return of components of WEEE to the commercial cycle; determine the scope for reuse, remanufacture, and recycling of resources from WEEE, alone or combined with other appropriate waste streams to maximise benefits and deliver integrated synergistic solutions; and identify any gaps in expertise that will need to be resourced to take the project to the next stage. A proven "cascade" methodology for the distillation of challenge ideas and emerging issues to refine further key focus areas and timely research priorities will be applied; (v) Proposal preparation towards achieving the step-change in material recovery processes from WEEE that will deliver holistic social, cultural, environmental and economic benefits.
- NERC Reference:
- NE/K015877/1
- Grant Stage:
- Completed
- Scheme:
- Directed (RP) - NR1
- Grant Status:
- Closed
- Programme:
- Waste
This grant award has a total value of £78,920
FDAB - Financial Details (Award breakdown by headings)
| DI - Other Costs | Indirect - Indirect Costs | DA - Investigators | DI - Staff | DA - Estate Costs | DA - Other Directly Allocated | DI - T&S |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| £5,968 | £19,403 | £10,005 | £16,944 | £8,245 | £613 | £17,743 |
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