Kirwan, Kerry, Pink, David, Barker, Guy C., Clark, Andrew J., Coles, Stuart R., Burton, Kerry S. and Tucker, Nick (2009) Wealth out of waste : developing technology to provide global social, economic and environmental acceptance. In: 5th International Conference on Environmental, Cultural, Economic and Social Sustainability, University of Technology, Mauritius, Jan 5-7, 2009. Published in: Proceedings of the 5th International Conference on Environmental, Cultural, Economic and Social Sustainability

Abstract

Increasing political and social demand for a more ethical and sustainable society, coupled with emerging global legislation is affecting the way in which every day products are manufactured, utilised and subsequently disposed of. However the development of enabling technologies to address the problems of environmentally friendly and sustainable practices requires a broadly based multi-disciplinary approach, and that this type of approach is unlikely to arise spontaneously. Increasing ethical concerns are being raised about the perceived plundering of resources from impoverished nations by more developed regions. Consideration of the “environmental triple bottom line” suggests that manufacturing and resource employment should be undertaken near to the point of use so that local social, economic and environmental benefits are maximized. In reality, global complexities result from inherently different local materials, processes and skills being available to any single region, resulting either in inferior materials production and utilisation, or (more often) the importation of alternatives from abroad – a situation that is costly to both the economy and environment. The Wealth out of Waste (WOW) programme is developing underpinning science and technology that can be applied at a local level, but on a global scale to allow the utilization of local resources (including agricultural waste materials) to produce high value products such as fuels, chemicals, construction materials and plastics for use in the local economy. Complimentary economic and social acceptance models are also being developed to facilitate rapid uptake of the research outputs.

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