A new year brings a change to Composites UK’s Operations Team as we welcome Malcolm Forsyth, former director of global strategy at Scott Bader, as our new sustainability manager.

 

Malcolm replaces Stella Job who, after seven years with the Association moved on to become the Sustainability Specialist at the Aerospace Technology Institute’s FlyZero project. He continues the Association’s sustainability agenda, working alongside our 25-company strong Sustainability Sub-Group.

A key objective for Composites UK is to move the whole UK composite material supply chain towards net zero and true circularity, and our sustainability focus areas for 2021 reflect some of the key elements involved in achieving this objective.

In the coming year, Composites UK’s sustainability activity will be focused as follows:

Develop commercial recycling options for composite products

Composite products are, by design and nature, durable and long-lasting which gives great in-service performance and clear benefits against other materials but also presents challenges for recycling production waste and end of life waste material. We will be seeking to firmly establish commercially-available recycling routes for the UK composites industry to use, and to coordinate industry and academic partnerships and consortia, to develop other promising recycling technologies towards commercial viability.

Develop better awareness, understanding and use of Life Cycle Analysis (LCA)

LCA is widely recognised as a key tool for assessing the environmental impact of different materials and processes in part manufacture and we want to encourage greater use of this tool across the UK composites supply chain. We will be looking to provide greater education opportunities for companies wanting to learn how to use LCA tools, to achieve wider access to well-validated LCA tools and to improve the quality of data on composite materials within these LCA tools.

Promote the positive contribution that Composites can make to a net zero world

2021 sees the UK take centre stage globally on the topic of climate change and our path to a net zero world, by hosting the COP26 event in November in Glasgow. At this event, all the nations of the world will come together to seek a new agreement to reduce carbon emissions and plot a global path towards net zero. We want to use the increased media focus on climate change and sustainability to show the major positive contribution that composite materials make through their light-weight strength and durability in applications, such as transport, construction and aerospace.

Maximise the benefits from our global network of sustainability contacts and advocates

No one country or organisation alone can deliver all the solutions that a complex challenge like the circular economy or net zero presents, and therefore we will be looking to strengthen further our close working links with the European and American Composites Association sustainability working groups, to bring best practice and new technology ideas from elsewhere in the world to the UK Composites supply chain.

Develop a new five-year sustainability strategy and action plan for the UK Composites market

As we enter a critical decade for progress towards a net zero world, it is vital that all our activity is focussed on the opportunities with the biggest potential impact on the carbon footprint and overall impact of the UK composites supply chain. We are therefore taking the opportunity this year to develop a fresh five-year sustainability strategy and action plan for Composites UK to ensure we deliver the biggest impact we can for our members and the wider UK composites supply chain.

If you would like to know more about any of the above activities, or how you can get involved, email info@compositesuk.co.uk.

www.compositesuk.co.uk

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