Seminar: rethinking materials, manufacturing and the power of circularity

UNSW SMaRT Centre Director Prof Veena will be guest speaker at a CoreNet Australia seminar on rethinking materials, manufacturing and the power of circularity, on 26 June 2025.

She will be joined at the in-persona and live-streamed event by Renew IT CEO James Lancaster who operates under licence to UNSW the first Plastics MICROfactorie^TM outside of the SMaRT Centre.

They will talk about the joint partnership and commercialisation journey, and discuss how to drive business value through supply chain strategy, and of course the benefits of a circular economy and sustainability.

Veena will share her vision for a sustainable future, highlighting the importance of creating a circular economy around local supply chains, and how using waste as a resource must be at the centre of our manufacturing future and innovative decarbonisation efforts, in collaboration between researchers and industry.

In a speech entitled "A smart vision for a sustainable future", she will highlight that using innovations such as UNSW SMaRT Centre's recycling and MICROfactorie^TM technologies that recover valuable materials from waste and reform them into new manufacturing feedstock and products through collaborators, are central to help achieve the sustainability needed for the future.

Event website and registration

Event hosts CoreNet say:

A smart vision for a sustainable future - what if waste wasn’t the end of the story, but the beginning?

Join us for an inspiring session that will reframe how we think about materials, manufacturing and the power of circularity.

Professor Veena Sahajwalla AO, internationally renowned materials scientist and founder of the UNSW SMaRT Centre, will take us inside the world of MICROfactories™, small-scale, high-impact facilities that turn waste into valuable new resources. From hard plastics and e-waste to textiles, this session breaks down complex ideas into relatable action.

You’ll also hear from James Lancaster, CEO of Renew IT, who has embedded a Plastics MICROfactorie™ into his operations, transforming discarded electronics into locally produced 3D printing filament.

And from Aidan Mullan at Interface, who’ll share lessons from a nearly 30-year journey toward circular flooring solutions - proving this is a team sport that requires grit, creativity, and collaboration.

This is more than a conversation about recycling, it’s about systems, innovation, and the very real commercial and environmental benefits of redesigning how we make, use, and reuse materials.