The ARC Research Hub for Value-Added Processing of underutilised carbon waste seeks to address the pressing accumulation of organic wastes such as scrap tyres, plastic, crop waste and food waste that are either sent overseas, to landfill, or stockpiled, causing detrimental environmental impacts.
The upcycling technologies developed by this Hub will help to reclaim value from waste, supporting Australia’s goal to achieve 80% recovery from waste streams by 2030 and ultimately transition to a circular economy. The Hub’s experts, industry partners and council cover the full value chain and will work together to advance the technology readiness level, promote technology uptake, advise on policy and regulations, and educate the next-generation of researchers needed for Australia to be at the forefront of waste reduction and circular economy initiatives.
Mission
- Take the national and global challenges of a circular economy for Australia through close partnerships between industry, researchers and end users.
- Foster a pre-commercialisation environment to address both social/regulatory and technology-based challenges to promote social engagement and technology readiness level (TRL).
- Establish a cross-disciplinary research platform to promote excellence and innovation, cross-border collaboration and the training of the next generation of engineers and scientists for a circular economy model.
Objectives
- Development of value-added, niche products out of carbon waste that are green/ renewable and cost-competitive in meeting the market needs for a broad variety of industries
- Development of advanced upcycling technologies, and promotion of their technology readiness level (TRL) and integration to fully exploit the values out of waste
- Formulation of full life cycle analysis and sound scientific foundation to enable the minimal environmental impact and carbon footprint from the processes, as well as to promote the associated regulations and policy
- Development of policy support and public understanding of the proposed upcycling technologies to enable effective implementation