Heriot-watt key to green chemical industry plans

Edinburgh’s Heriot-watt University will play a pivotal role in government plans to ramp u p t h e c h e mi c a l i n d u s t r y ’s green credentials.

The capital institution has been announced as the Scottish partner in a £4.3 million UK project. It forms part of a government push designed to revolutionise the way resources are managed in the UK’S £32 billion chemical industry.

S cottish-based academics will be looking at barriers that currently prevent the finance sector from fully supporting i n n ova t i o n i n t h e c h e mi c a l industr y and engaging with policy-makers to help shape the UK’S strategy for the chemical industr y for the next two decades.

They will also b e studying c o n s u m e r b e h a v i o u r a n d working with waste reduction charity Wrap to “empower the public” with practical advice around using by-products of the chemical industry.

The Interdisciplinary Centre for Circular Chemical Economy is a multi-million-pound consor tium of seven universities across the UK that also involves Loughborough, Cardiff, Imperial College London, Liverpool, Newcastle and Sheffield, with headquarters based at Loughborough led by Professor Jin Xuan.

Heriot Watt’s associate professor Bing Xu, who will b e leading the project north of the Border, said: “The vision of this project is ambitious – to transform the UK’S chemical industry by replacing its current linear supply chain with a highly integrated, climate -p ositive and environmentally friendly circular economy.

“This involves challenging all barriers to this approach and f i n d i n g n e w ways to r e c ov - er and reuse resources from domestic waste products and CO2 emissions.

“O u r c o l l a b o r a t i o n r i g h t across the supply chain gives us the best chance of delivering a circular economy where we maximise reuse and recycling.

“Here at the Edinburgh Business School at Heriot-watt, we are proud to be leading on all aspects of this project around p o l i c y, s o ci e t y a nd f i na nc e . We’ve got brilliant par tners to collaborate with and there is real potential to reduce the UK’S reliance on fossil resources.”

The project forms part of a wider £22.5m UK government initiative to improve the UK’S circular economy in the textiles, construction, chemicals and metals.

S o m e 2 0 p a r t n e r s a r e involved, ranging from multinationals such as Exxonmobil and Unilever to local initiatives including Wrap and Zero Waste Scotland.

Colin Kennedy, Zero Waste Scotland’s sector manager in Manufacturing, added: “This is a great opportunity to lead the transition from a linear model of take, make and dispose to a circular one where everything is valued and nothing is wasted.”

T h e I n t e r d i s c i p l i n a r y C e n t r e f o r C i r c u l a r C h e mi - c a l E c o n o my i s f u n d e d b y t h e U K R I S t r a t e g i c P r i o r i - t i e s Fu n d , a n d d e l ive r e d b y t h e A r t s a n d H u m a n i t i e s R e s e a r c h C o u n c i l , B i o t e c hn o l o g y a n d B i o l o g i c a l S c i - ences Research Council, Econ o mi c a n d S o c i a l R e s e a r c h C o u n c i l , E n g i n e e r i n g a n d Physical S ciences Research C o u n c i l , N a t u r a l E n v i r o n - ment Research Council, and Innovate UK, with Defra and BEIS. Earlier it emerged that a H e r i o t -Wa t t - b a s e d f i r m h a d s e c u r e d f u n d i n g f o r i t s advanced surgical devices.