CER to open SPARK Workshop on Circular Economy

David Fitzsimons, in his capacity as director of the European Remanufacturing Council (CER), will be opening a SPARK workshop event in Cardiff on 28th March.

SPARK workshop at the Cardiff Business School, 28th March on Circular Economy: Financial, Environmental & Societal Sustainability.

The 'circular economy' promotes the re-use of products and emphasises the potential for significant reductions of waste and resource consumption. Remanufacturing activity is currently worth around £2.4bn to the UK economy and, while other parts of the UK manufacturing sector are declining, it has the potential to rise to £5.6bn in the near future, and to create over half a million jobs, reduce unemployment by over 100,000 and offset around 18% of the expected future losses in skilled employment.

The objective of SPARK workshops is to explore the potential for both interdisciplinary collaboration and the co-production of knowledge with external partners on key topics with significant societal impact. A £10,000 budget, contributed by the Economic and Social Research Council, ESRC and Panalpina World Transport Ltd, is available to support 'seed corn' activities.

The SPARK workshop on 28th March, led by Mike Wilson of the Panalpina Centre for Manufacturing & Logistics Research, Cardiff University, will discuss the move from 'linear' to 'circular' economic models and the barriers to the uptake of the latter. It will consider areas that deserve immediate attention to identify 'seed corn' activities that help answer important questions such as: i) What are the barriers to the development of circular economy from a business perspective? ii) What factors influence its take-up and development? iii) Where is further academic research needed, what different disciplines might contribute and how?

David Fitzsimons, director of the newly formed European trade association for remanufacturers, the Conseil Européen de Remanufacture (CER), will open this SPARK workshop.

For more information on the workshop, please check on the SPARK website.