C2C BIZZ

Institute’s role: Project partner

Background: The Institute is working in partnership with the Greater London Authority (GLA) to apply Cradle to Cradle principles in practice on the London Sustainable Industries Park (LSIP), East London.  This includes research on the feasibility of waste resources exchange and re-use on the LSIP and its adjacent sites and development of a continuous loop demonstrator re-using secondary waste from Energy from Waste processes on the site. 

This activity is part of the C2C BIZZ project, set up to accelerate the application of Cradle to Cradle solutions in business sites and the wider built environment throughout North West Europe.  The project will use project partners’ experience in delivering Cradle to Cradle pilots to produce a toolkit for creating Cradle to Cradle business and innovation sites as well as guidance on finance models, operational good practice and technical advice for industry use. 

Challenge: In the UK alone, more than 434 million tonnes of waste are produced every year driving a waste management industry worth more than £4.8 billion.  As global demand for resources and as the cost of disposing of unwanted materials increase, continuous loop and C2C principles present an alternative approach to ‘waste’.  They aim to design and create production techniques that are not just efficient but as waste free as possible by converting what is left over from one production process into raw material or energy to be fed into other processes or products.  However, take up and investment in the UK is slow, due in part to concerns about financial viability and risk management.

Activity: A feasibility study for the demonstrator was completed in March 2012 by Royal Haskoning, which reviewed the wider context for material availability and recommended a Cradle to Cradle solution using waste emanating from existing and future LSIP tenants; a plastic recycling business, a gasification plant and an anaerobic digestion plant.

A call to tender for the demonstrator was issued in August 2012 with submissions received in early September. After internal evaluation of submissions received the contract was awarded to the University of East London (UEL). The contract for the demonstrator was signed by UEL on 21 December. The build of the demonstrator is likely to start in Summer 2013 following preliminary design and laboratory testing.

Several C2C tools are currently being developed by the Institute, based on its experience to date, to assist in the decision-making process for developing a Cradle to Cradle business site.  This practical guidance will cover areas such as development frameworks, collaboration agreements and material flow modelling.

Partners: The C2C BIZZ project is led by Eindhoven SRE (Netherland) and delivered in conjunction with 11 public sector and academic partners across United Kingdom, Germany, Netherland, Luxembourg, Belgium and France.  

Funders: The project is part-funded by the Interreg IVB NWE Programme.