A circular economy retrospective – EURACTIV.com

Scientists are working with a Victorian almond grower to trial an orchard redevelopment practice to reduce the industry’s carbon footprint.  Whole orchard recycling is an established practice for orchard redevelopment in California Researchers overseeing an Australian trial want to quantify the impact it has on the carbon footprint of local almond orchards.  By incorporating the wood chips back into the soil, almond growers in the US are reporting better water-holding capacity and better nutrient uptake
When almond growers decide to redevelop part of their orchard, the trees are often removed and then burnt.  Merbein almond grower Neale Bennett was in the United States five years ago and saw the process in action.

A sustainability project, led by the University of Strathclyde’s Advanced Forming Research Centre (AFRC), part of the National Manufacturing Institute Scotland, is looking at circular solutions to ensure that the drive for electric machines doesn’t result in an increase in parts ending up in landfill. As part of the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) funded Future Electrical Machines Manufacturing (FEMM) Hub project, a more sustainable life cycle for electrical machines will be developed, with an aim to adopt a circular economy approach that loops the materials back into manufacture at the end of life. Currently, electric machines, such as those used within electric cars, are manufactured using mostly metals and their alloys, some of which are complex in their composition or manufacturing routes, and most of which are manufactured from virgin, finite materials.