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UNSW SMaRT Centre Director, Professor Veena Sahajwalla was interviewed by Rethink Global for its The Circular Economy Podcast series.
Veena talks about ways to create a circular economy and explains how the UNSW SMaRT Centre recycling technologies derive value from waste and create local supply chains and economic opportunities while helping to tackle our waste challenges.
Listen or download via Rethink Global
Rethink Global says:
Professor Veena Sahajwalla, founder of UNSW SMaRT Centre, is an internationally recognised materials scientist, engineer, and inventor who is revolutionising recycling science.
In 2018, Veena launched the world’s first e-waste MICROfactorieTM and in 2019 she launched her plastics and Green Ceramics MICROfactoriesTM, another breakthrough for recycling technology.
Veena unpacks the concepts of micro–factories and micro-recycling, and we hear why it’s important to get clear on the constituent materials in waste flows – for example, not just textiles, but what the textile is made from.
Veena explains the importance of thinking beyond the manufacture of the recycled material, so you are designing solutions that are properly suitable for high-value end-products. Veena also describes how the projects are collaborating with industry partners, helping open up opportunities for important local jobs, skills and resilient income streams.
Podcast host Catherine Weetman is a circular economy business advisor, workshop facilitator, speaker and writer. Her award-winning book: A Circular Economy Handbook: How to Build a More Resilient, Competitive and Sustainable Business includes lots of practical examples and tips on getting started. Catherine founded Rethink Global in 2013, to help businesses use circular, sustainable approaches to build a better business (and a better world).
We’re ranked in the top 5% of ALL podcasts globally, with listeners in over 130 countries. If you can recommend a circular business, start-up or social enterprise in a developing country as a guest, please let us know!