Chairman’s Corner

Professor John Evans

“To contribute to the better understanding of usage and applications of all engineering materials to the advantage of the Welsh economy.“

The business plan also highlights our drive to raise industrial awareness of new technologies, new materials and new ways of using existing materials. It further reinforces our commitment to helping Welsh manufacturing organisations to become more profitable and emphasises our strenuous efforts to encourage interactions and networking within the materials sectors. These objectives will continue to be met through prestigious seminars, focussed lectures, workshops, the Bulletin and our informative Website. In essence, you will still receive the same level of support and commitment from the new MNW as you have received in the past.

This Bulletin continues our promotion of focussed themes concentrating in particular on polymers, composites and the all important need for recycling. Inside you will find an article from TWI’s Knowledge Transfer Network in Composites and Therma Tru Ltd who are key members of our Network.To set the scene, on the front page we have an overview on recycling emphasising the importance of this field and defining a Masters degree programme in the subject at Swansea University. Undoubtedly, recycling will play an ever increasing role in our lives over the coming years and will have a significant impact on our use of materials in Wales.

Mastering Recycling

Sustainable development relies on the modern-day mantra for environmentalists of reduction, reuse, recycling and energy recovery as the preferred hierarchy for waste management. Of these options for resource optimisation the area in which the Materials Technologist stands to make the greatest impact is recycling.

The scale of the waste problem is enormous:

Britain currently generates more than 400 million tonnes of waste per annum, most of which is sent to landfill. In recent years some progress has been made, but huge challenges remain. In the last 20 years, household recycling/composting rates in England have increased from 0.75% to 17.6%, but Britain’s record remains one of the worst in the EU-15.Within Britain,Wales is poorer than average, with a rate in 2001/2 (the last year on record) of 8.4% compared with England’s 12.5%. Clearly, economic considerations alone have not been sufficient to generate recycling on the necessary scale. Legislation has now become a major driving force, with the introduction of a series of directives within the EU Waste Framework, particularly for packaging, electronic and electrical equipment and end-of-life vehicles.

Against this background, in recent years the Universities in Wales have substantially increased research activities in waste management and recycling. In particular, Swansea University introduced a postgraduate MRes course in Recycling Technology in 2001 with support from ESF and EPSRC. Later, in 2003 Cardiff University set up the Wales Waste and Resources Research Centre, which aims to act as a focal point for more general waste research in Wales, in response to the Welsh Assembly’s National Waste Strategy. The Swansea MRes course in Recycling Technology is the first and only degree scheme specifically on recycling in the UK. It is an industry driven course which seeks to train graduates in a wide range of topics linked to recycling, encompassing economic and legislative issues as well as technical aspects.The major part of the scheme is a company-linked research project involving 8 - 9 months full-time study and several local companies have already seen the benefits.

One of the first projects was linked to a local company recovering precious metals from computer equipment.The substantial plastic components were being landfilled and so they were keen to assess alternatives.This study highlighted several issues specifically associated with plastics, including identification, separation, mixing and degradation in properties. However, it showed that even for plastics, which have more inherent recycling issues than most materials, with sufficient research most of the technical problems can be overcome. More fundamental barriers seem to be social attitudes and economic restraints.

Examples of other research areas investigated within the MRes scheme include:

• Development of composites from slate and other mineral waste
• Assessment of the effects of sociodemographic factors on participation rates in recycling collection schemes
• Development of novel composites from waste agricultural plastics
• The separation and potential uses of waste ethylene glycol and glycerol
• The options for re-use and recycling of flat screen displays
• Manufacture of natural fibre composites using a recycled plastic matrix

The value of the Swansea MRes scheme may be judged from the popularity with students and the success of graduates in gaining highly relevant employment. For example, at least five Local Authorities in South Wales now have Recycling Officers who have graduated from the scheme.Another graduate has started an SME locally, producing biodiesel from waste vegetable oil, as a direct result of a feasibility study project. Also recently, a DTI-supported Knowledge Transfer Partnership between Swansea University and a local company has developed from a project investigating applications for waste tyre rubber crumb.

With ongoing long-term support from EPSRC assured, the scheme continues to recruit graduates and support local companies with collaborative research projects.

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