Australian Circular Economy Conference

(ACEC 2018)

Unlocking value from waste resources through collaboration and technology

​

19-20 November 2018

MERCURE KOOINDAH WATERS, CENTRAL COAST

The inaugural ‘Australian Circular Economy Conference’ (ACEC)

is organised by

​

The Waste Transformation Research Hub – A research hub at the School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, The University of Sydney

 

​

This event is supported by the Office of the NSW Chief Scientist & Engineer, within the NSW Department of Industry.

Australian Circular Economy Conference

 

Australia has a massive waste challenge. In Australia, as around the globe, more waste is being produced than ever before, due to increasing populations, increasing resource consumption per person and prevalence of single-use products. The total annual volume of waste sent to landfill continues to increase where Australia relies heavily on landfills as a key waste management technology. Clearly Australia cannot continue to rely on landfill as primary means of dealing with waste. There is a dire need for waste technology innovations, in particular, new technologies for the sustainable processing of waste.

 

This does not simply mean disposing of waste in a less environmentally damaging manner. It means unlocking the value of this underused resource by converting it into safe, high-value chemicals and products for use in industry and homes. What we need to aim for is a circular economy, where product design, materials production and end-of-life processing form a closed loop, with minimal ultimate waste.

 

This conference will chart the way ahead towards a circular economy. This will not the typical waste conference. The primary goal is to convene discussion on academic and industry research that focuses on the upfront exercise of product design, resource utilisation, waste transformations into renewed products, and means towards setting up a techno-enviro-regulatory eco-system to inform better policy and to support transitioning towards a circular economy.

 

This Conference will give researchers the opportunity to connect with others from academia, research organisations, industry and Government. It will contribute to the Australian debate on waste with the vision to bring Australia’s waste research and waste industry to the forefront internationally, but importantly to lift Australia’s game in circular economy change currently maturing in Europe, China and elsewhere. It will focus on topics such as:

 

• Technology: State-of-the-art in consumer product design and waste processing technologies

• Digital circular economy: the 3 Cs in waste data: clarity, consistency, connectivity

• Policy: Circular economy policy and implications on waste prevention, recovery and energy from waste (EfW)

• Transitioning: Business Infrastructure and the circular economy

 

Delegates from legislative, industry and research sectors will gather in this conference to share their work and insights on the circular economy.