Big Earth Energy Episode 7— The Journey to a Circular Economy with Ben Gibbons

If most manufacturing processes used waste materials as a feedstock, the world would look very different. For starters, we’d have to stop talking about waste, because there wouldn’t be any – only feedstocks. The extraction of virgin resources would plummet; resources already in circulation would be more valuable, and treated as such.
But it’s easy for companies to exaggerate the good that they’re doing – especially when no-one agrees on what it really means to divert waste, and how to calculate the impact of it.
That’s why we’re committed to being transparent about what we do now, what we’re aiming for, and how we think about and measure our impact. There are three types of environmental impacts that we want to make: recycling rates, waste diversion, and carbon savings.

It is the result of a two-year project to find a suitable solution to recycling modern-day football pitches, which are a hybrid of grass and synthetic plastic.

The project is being billed as a first in the world of football.

A large amount of professional playing surfaces in today’s football games contain plastic to make them more durable.

Hybrid pitches reportedly offer increased reliability in variable weather and can be used for multiple purposes, yet their recycling has been a challenge.

Fully circular, low carbon fencing materials, net-zero asphalt, and smart fiber reinforced plastic bridge beams are among the projects participating in a program seeking low carbon solutions on National Highways’ network.

Four firms have made it through to the final stage of the Accelerating Low Carbon Innovation program organised by National Highways in collaboration with Connected Places Catapult and each is set to receive up to £80,000 to make their vision a reality.