Last month TransFIRe brought together a wide range of industrial partners to offer them a chance to discuss and exchange information on the materials, waste and services that they have within their organisations and how these could potentially be used to supply another company as part of an ongoing agreement.
TransFIRe has been helping the foundation industries (paper, cement, ceramics, metals, chemicals and glass) in the UK to collaborate to help tackle CO2 emissions and waste.
The way that the products we use on a daily basis are produced tend to rely on established processes that utilise very expensive equipment and assets and often produce large amounts of waste. There is a huge demand for change in the way this is done in order to improve profitability and help become more sustainable.
This Industrial Symbiosis Workshop, facilitated by International Synergies and project lead Dr Lampros Litos, enabled companies such as the Royal Mint, Liberty Steel, Saica Paper and Cambond to identify their “Wants” and “Needs”. This information was then uploaded on our online waste database (SYNERGie®) and will be used to generate the post workshop reports identifying potential synergies.
Mark Loveridge, Director UK Currency & Semi Precious Metals for the Royal Mint, said:
“I thoroughly enjoyed the TransFIRe event and it was well organised and efficient. I’ve been able to follow up on a number of conversations with people with external expertise to develop our technical performance and look for a more sustainable solution for our output of fibreglass.”
At the previous iteration of this event, held virtually in July 2022, over 80 potential opportunities for collaboration were identified including some of which are currently undergoing trials and advanced level discussions.
This event is just one example of the activities that are currently underway to set the basis for the future of the foundation industries in the UK – setting a global example of how materials can regain a new life-cycle and eliminate the need for virgin materials to be dug out of the ground.
TransFIRe would like to thank International Synergies, the University of Leeds and Innovate UK KTN for their help and support with this event.