Waste or Resource? Stimulating a Bioeconomy

The Science and Technology Committee believe the UK could miss out on a massive opportunity to create a flourishing multibillion pound economy from waste. It calls on the Government to create a Waste Champion, to take on the job of developing a brass from muck bioeconomy - one that could see enormous economic benefits as well as a considerable number of green jobs. Although there are many kinds of waste generated from a variety of sources, the Lords inquiry looked specifically at waste which contains carbon.Around 100 million tonnes of carbon-containing-waste are available every year, which could potentially be exploited as a resource. While preventing the creation of waste in the first place is a laudable policy goal, it is inevitable that there will always be waste-or unavoidable by-products-such as orange peel, coffee grounds or waste gas from factories and power stations. Using cutting edge technologies, wastes such as these can be converted into valuable products such as fuels, flavours and fragrances, plastics, paint or pharmaceuticals. Technology has the potential to produce, from waste, nearly 40% of the petrol used in the UK.Substitutes for aviation fuel, burning 60% less carbon, are being developed from waste gases from steel mills. There are also environmental benefits, such as diverting waste from landfill and capturing greenhouse gases, to be had from harnessing the waste-to-wealth technology.