Over 40 business leaders, SMEs, policy makers, researchers, policy makers and representatives from sector bodies celebrated the achievements and impact of the University of Exeter-led Circular Economy (CE) Centre for Technology Metals (Met4Tech) at the Eden Project on 30th October 2024.

Met4Tech has brought together researchers from the British Geological Survey (BGS) and the Universities of Exeter, Birmingham, Leicester, Manchester and Aston to collaborate on creating a national technology metals circular economy roadmap.

It is one of five CE Centres (chemicals, textiles, minerals, metals, technology metals) funded in the UKRI National Interdisciplinary Circular Economy Research (NICER) Programme, a four-year £30 million investment sponsored by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs to move the UK towards a circular economy.

The finale event held within the setting of the iconic Eden biomes, a beacon of sustainability, saw delegates engage in discussions about the key research outputs, ongoing challenges, opportunities for collaboration and networking, and how to take these ideas and solutions forward.

Principal Investigator Professor Frances Wall of the University of Exeter welcomed delegates, including representatives from UKRI (EPSRC), IUK (CLIMATES), CMA (Critical Minerals Association), Environment Agency, Defra, DBT, ICMM, Cornish Lithium, Altilium Metals, Johnson Matthey, Beta Technology, RL Automative and Marine Minerals to the showcase event.

Prof Frances Wall said the conference had highlighted the interdisciplinary work of Met4tech centre from Chemistry, Law and Geology, and work on life cycle assessments across the whole value chain and road mapping.

She said: “I’ve really enjoyed hearing about the work with our industry partners, whether direct on chemistry challenges such as recycling better in the future, or helping us with our Cornwall circular economy case study. We have also seen some examples of best practice of industry innovation in the circular economy, which we can learn from directly to put in our road map studies.”

The showcase event also featured dynamic talks about the UK Tech Metals Observatory, Case Studies and Aligned Projects, the Recycling Toolbox, and the UK Tech metals CE Roadmaps for Lithium-ion battery materials and rare earth magnets.

Co-Investigator Dr Gavin Harper, of the University of Birmingham, said it had been really good to take a retrospective view on the collaboration between universities and BGS and industry partners.

He said: “We have a really interdisciplinary view on what a future circular economy of technology metals might look like drawing from across both physical and social sciences to examine those problems that locate at the nexus of all of these disciplines and partners. There are really promising shoots of what a future UK circular economy in critical materials might look like which have emerged from these discussions.”

The event also saw the unveiling in time for autumn school half term of the Met4Tech ‘The New Precious Metals’; Unearthing the Treasures in Our Everyday Tech’ interactive touring exhibit at  the Eden Project in Cornwall.

This interactive exhibit was launched in April 2024 at the Xplore! Science Discovery Centre in Wrexham and had previously been on display at Royal Cornwall Museum in Truro Cornwall. This 3.5m high exhibit allows visitors to try and solve the increasing demand for metal resources by either building more mines – or by repairing, refurbishing and recycling existing extracted precious metals.

The Met4Tech project is set to end in a few months’ time and many of the guiding principles and key outcomes will feed into the University of Exeter’s new UKRI-funded Critical Minerals Accelerating the Green Economy Centre. The Universities of Birmingham and Leicester have also started a new UKRI-funded project on recycling called RECREATE.

Prof Frances Wall, PI, of University of Exeter

Dr Xiaoyu Yan of University of Exeter

Dr Molly Keal of University of Leicester and Dr Evi Petavratzi of BGS

Met4Tech exhibit at Eden