WEEE recycling charity Materials Focus has launched a brand new £1million “Round Electricals Fund” to help the event of a extra round electricals system within the UK. At the moment too many new electrical merchandise aren’t designed to be simply reused and recycled – and the UK wants higher programs to get better the precious supplies inside them which might be thrown away. The fund is searching for purposes for brand new concepts that maintain electricals and their supplies in use for longer and scale back e-waste.
Materials Focus is on the lookout for initiatives that can present innovation with affect that: enhance useful resource effectivity, scale back environmental affect, and encourage collaboration throughout business. Funding is out there for as much as £150,000 per profitable mission. Purposes for the “Round Electricals Fund” are invited from UK organisations, together with business our bodies, nonprofits, non-public corporations, compliance schemes, universities, and analysis establishments. The time limit for software is 14 August 2025.
E-waste is the fastest-growing waste stream on this planet. Within the UK alone, we bin over 100,000 tonnes of electricals yearly, and we’ve got over 800 million+ unused, undesirable and discarded electricals stashed away in our properties. These electricals include a number of the most valuable supplies on our planet, which in line with Materials Focus’s analysis are value practically £1 billion, together with copper, lithium and gold, which when used inefficiently or thrown away are misplaced ceaselessly.
Scott Butler, Government Director, Materials Focus stated: “We’ve already funded over 60 initiatives that make it simpler to repair, donate, and recycle current electricals for over 10 million individuals throughout the UK. Nonetheless, we’re designing and making too many merchandise with out full consideration of the supplies they’re constructed from, the repairability of them, and the way straightforward it’s to get better helpful components and supplies.. We’re delighted to be asserting our new £1m Round Electricals Fund which can assist drive innovation and help the event of a extra round electricals system within the UK. We’re on the lookout for formidable initiatives that may deliver contemporary new concepts to cut back the environmental affect of electricals by enhancing product design, enhancing useful resource effectivity, and inspiring collaboration.”
Challenge purposes might want to display sensible, scalable options that improve useful resource effectivity, scale back environmental affect, and encourage collaboration that tackle the next key challenges:
- Supplies – growing new strategies for extra effectively recovering supplies resembling know-how metals and different helpful supplies from e-waste resembling superior recycling applied sciences guaranteeing that their worth is recovered.
- Product design – making electricals extra sturdy, repairable, upgradeable, and lengthy lasting. For instance, designing client and family electricals with simply replaceable elements to increase their lifespan.
- Enterprise fashions – growing new providers that promote reuse, sharing, and waste discount (e.g. leasing, product-as-a-service, sensible properties, libraries of issues).
The Round Electricals Fund will present a variety of alternatives together with: contribute to the creation of a round electricals system; community and collaborate with key business figures, and different changemakers who’re making it simpler to repair, donate and recycle electricals within the UK.
The Judges for the Round Electricals Fund are famend specialists of their fields and convey a variety of enterprise, environmental, know-how and innovation experience:
- Teresa Arbuckle, Managing Director UK and Eire at Beko PLC. Beko Europe is a number one house home equipment enterprise, devoted to altering the lives of its clients by a variety of modern and sustainable family merchandise and options.
- Asad Hamir, Co-Founding father of Klyk. Klyk is on a mission to take away waste from IT Capabilities with it’s Round method to IT, saving organisations cash and carbon while delivering scalable, safe IT that’s constructed for development.
- Andy Gomarsall, Government Director at n2s and a founding associate of Bioscope Applied sciences, each main round organisations. Andy champions the development of know-how recycling partnerships and advocates for sustainable innovation throughout the tech business.
- Peter Moody, from GAP Group North East, a diversified waste administration and logistics firm with a give attention to sustainability and round economic system options. In 2024 Peter was named one of many Prime 50 most formidable enterprise leaders and was the winner of ESG award.
- Yewande Akinola, Professor of Engineering. Yewande is an award-winning Engineer and Innovator. She holds a Bachelor’s diploma in Engineering Design and Acceptable Expertise from the College of Warwick and a Masters in Innovation and Design for Sustainability from Cranfield College.
