Written by Most of the resources embedded in waste are currently under-utilised and are mostly sent to landfill. This can pose serious environmental hazards and pollution, affecting human health and ecosystems. If these wastes can be better managed and resources can be recovered into useful products such as chemicals, fuels and energy, this would meet the soaring industrial and consumers’ demand in the future. Enhancing resource utilisation through efficient organic resource recovery and valorisation promotes the transition from a linear “take-make-dispose” model towards a circular and sustainable bioeconomy.
The SYNERGORS project (“A systems approach to synergistic utilisation of secondary organic streams”), funded by the UK Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) and led by Dr Kok Siew Ng (Engineering Science, Oxford), aims to develop new systems approaches and strategies for promoting resource recovery from secondary organic waste streams (e.g. food waste, residual biomass). The project addresses various socio-environmental challenges faced by human and living communities, the rising global demands in energy and commodities, and lessening burdens on the landfill, water and atmosphere. The objectives of the project are well aligned with the UK Industrial Strategy in enhancing resource efficiency while achieving a sustainable industrial growth and a more resilient economy. The project has received support from more than 10 UK and international organisations, providing multidisciplinary expertise to address the global challenges in waste management.
SYNERGORS consortium is a founding partner of CRES.
Further information
Please contact Dr Kok Siew Ng (kok.ng@eng.ox.ac.uk) if you are interested in learning more about the project.