Advancing the Circular Economy: A University Perspective - UKUPC Webinar

 
 

Hosted by Dr Rhiannon Hunt, Circular Economy Manager at the University of Liverpool, this was an opportunity for UKUPC Members to expand their knowledge of the circular economy and discover how universities can lead the way in sustainability initiatives. Discovering the myriad of advantages of adopting a circular economy approach within a university setting and learn how it can enhance resource efficiency, maximise the utility of existing assets, drive business model innovation, and transform waste into valuable resources.

  • Introduction to the circular economy and supply chains
  • Benefits of adopting the circular economy approach in universities
  • Experiences from the University of Liverpool
  • The unique role of universities
  • Q&A Session

Slides from the session can be found further down this page.

You can watch the recording of the session via the video below or by using this link.
The Q&A section starts at 46 minutes and 30 seconds of the recording.
 
Further questions that could not be answered due to time running out will be answered and added shortly. Questions 1-10 can be found from 46 minutes and 30 seconds of the recording. 
  1. Question from Amy at the University of Liverpool - What would you say is the biggest barrier to introducing a fully embedded end to end circular economy across an entire institution, rather than a specific category?
  2. Question from Craig of the National Nuclear Laboratory - How can economic growth be achieved whilst increasing sustainability if consumption is the main driver of growth?
  3. Question from Ollie of the University of Brighton - If there are any, could you describe your best quick win approaches to demonstrating impact on the circular economy?
  4. Question from Giorgia of Cardiff University - If leasing until end of life, what benefits could this bring as the machines would be decommissioned so reuse wouldn't be possible?
  5. Question from Dave of NWUPC – he can see you have had some fantastic successes but have there been any projects that were embarked upon that didn't work quite so well?
  6. Follow on from Dave at NWUPC- How are the results of these successful projects communicated and are there different messages to different stakeholders?
  7. Question from Howard of the University of Plymouth - Have you had much uptake from the local VCSE community after expanding access to the Warp-It platform? If so, what has proved useful/popular?
  8. Question from Katherine from LJMU - Do you have one or a group of team member who manages the furniture through Warp It? We would like to get on board with something like this but think it could be quite resource heavy.
  9. Question from Jackie at Queen's University Belfast - How is AI being used to estimate Scope 3 emissions?
  10. Question from Sion of the University of Edinburgh - who is responsible for the asset management database, in particular for ensuring it is up-to-date?

Slides from the session 

 Can be found here.