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The UK’s net zero future will depend on making things in sustainable ways, with close attention to the whole cycle: the materials we use, the energy and carbon emissions involved in processes, and the opportunities for re-use, re-manufacturing and (last of all) recycling. But for the time being the manufacturing sector in the UK — the sector that globally generates around a third of all carbon emissions — is mired in old ways. The sector has become stuck within a wasteful system based around imports of products and materials, and exports of materials that could have been re-used or recycled. There is still a take-make-dispose mindset. We have industries without the means or motivation to move away from energy intensive, carbon-heavy processes. And while the UK’s carbon footprint is ‘off-shored’ to other nations, increasingly important materials, resources and business opportunities are draining away; consumers are misled over the actual [...]