Wealth from waste in the circular economy

Generating wealth from waste is a central tenet of the circular economy and innovations in production systems and resource management are emerging globally as products, supply chains and business models are being redesigned to harness this opportunity. This paper presents recent findings from the Wealth from Waste Cluster, a $9m research collaboration (2013-2016) which joins University of Technology, Sydney (UTS), Yale University, Monash University, The University of Queensland and Swinburne University of Technology to build knowledge networks, assemble evidence, and develop new science to identify opportunities for Australia in a circular-economic world. Findings from the research are grouped in four themes (i) technical and non-technical challenges to successful urban mining of metals, including e-waste (ii) an estimate of the value of the urban mine in Australia, namely$5b annually, only 35% of which is recycled locally (iii) innovative directions in responsible supply chain business models to capture the value of this untapped resource in Australian firms and (iv) elements of a transition path and policy recommendations to facilitate the acceleration of realizing wealth from waste.