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Green Gown Awards

Weaving together a circular economy at RMIT

There are a number of strands that weave together to form the full picture of the work RMIT is leading in the shift to a circular economy:

  • The Circular Economy Hub (CEH) at RMIT is a cross-disciplinary, industry-engaged network of experts working on cutting edge and innovative research.
  • TREMS is a group of researchers led by RMIT University, involving other universities in Australia and globally to explore new ways to engineer construction and other high-value materials from recycled household, commercial & industrial waste.
  • RMIT Property Services is working with experts from across both research groups to apply circular principles throughout the capital development and procurement process in the ‘Circular Economy Project’.

The circular economy work at RMIT aims to transform the current mindset of the take-make-waste linear model towards circularity, where waste and pollution is eliminated through good design, and the life of existing materials are prolonged through new and innovative ways of repairing, reusing and remanufacturing.

 

The depth and breadth of the circular economy work at RMIT is unique, the Sustainability Team is in a central position as the conveyors of RMIT’s Sustainability Committee, to be engaged with a range of programs at the university and make connections by catalysing actions between, researchers, student support initiatives, industry and the campus applications. RMIT Researchers made an early commitment to the principles of a circular economy and this has resulted in deep engagement, collaborative outcomes and financial backing. The RMIT Activator program has always been unique in its approach, but by aligning its work to the SDGs it is at the forefront of solving global problems, as evidenced by its circular economy work in 2020 and beyond. The CEH is directly related to achieving SDGs 9, 11 and 12.

The Circular Economy Hub (CEH) at RMIT is a cross-disciplinary, industry-engaged network of around 60 researchers and experts across the University working on cutting edge and innovative Circular Economy (CE) research across Australia and internationally. The work supports RMIT as an industry leader in circular economy research at national and global forums. The CEH’s cross-disciplinary nature supports empirical approaches to holistic and systemic engagement across research partnerships, expanding the university’s impact and expertise on CE. It also supports the emergence of a new capability-building platform across micro-credentials, executive training, vocational and higher educational outcomes. The RMIT Circular Economy Hub’s cross-disciplinary nature supports empirical approaches to holistic and systemic engagement across research partnerships, expanding the university’s impact and expertise on circular economy internally at RMIT, and externally. The Sustainability Team actively engaged with this group both to develop the calculator and contribute to their research on the application of circularity principles in the built environment as a ‘living lab’ case study. The CEH members also participate in the Transformation of Reclaimed Waste Resources to Engineered Materials and Solutions for a Circular Economy (TREMS) which have drawn on industry connections to form a ‘network’ interested in exploring new ways to engineer construction and other high-value materials from recycled household, commercial & industrial waste.

Published on December 20, 2021

Speakers:

Usha Iyer-Raniga

Supporting document(s)

Event start date
10:00 pm
18/11/2021
Event end date
06:00 am
19/11/2021

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