Parliamentary report highlights SMaRT innovations

UNSW SMaRT Centre recycling technologies and concepts have been highlighted as methods to help Australia manage its pressing waste challenges and achieve a circular economy.

The Australian Parliament House of Representatives Standing Committee on Industry, Innovation, Science and Resources, in December 2020 released its report, From Rubbish to Resources: Building a Circular Economy, after holding an Inquiry since October 2019.

SMaRT highlights include:

• It quotes Veena's evidence about Green Steel on pages 64 and 65 as an example of innovative use of waste but also in relation to the commercialisation challenges for such innovations.
• It quotes Veena on page 71 in the context of the importance of councils in the waste challenge.
• It provides a case study on SMaRT's Microfactorie technologies pages 107 – 110, and uses this in the context of challenges for rural and regional communities.

The report recommendations contained various elements of SMaRT's submission recommendations which include government support to use university-developed technology to help solve some of our waste challenges, including the need for “mobile” waste management solutions such as Microfactories.

Here is a link to the Australian Parliament's Report landing page, which also publishes the SMaRT submission (No 80).