UK Malaysia Joint Workshop on Improving Waste Management and Recycling

Purpose: to identify opportunities for collaboration to address UK and Malaysian waste management challenges.

The workshop aims to support technology transfer collaborations, based on strengths and assets within the UK and Malaysia, and to support better international uptake of emergent research and technologies from these countries, developing links with industry partners of mutual interest and potential.

Historically, roughly two thirds of plastic waste in the UK has been exported overseas for recycling. 105,000 tonnes of it was exported to Malaysia alone between 2017 and 2018. Recent amendments to the Basel Convention on transboundary movements of hazardous waste and its disposal now identify mixed, unrecyclable and contaminated plastic waste exports as regulated wastes, and place additional demands on waste processors.

Speakers from the Center for Waste Management at the University of Malaya and Jeffrey Sachs Center on Sustainable Development at Sunway University will set out challenge statements and current policy directions in Malaysia.

The current UK landscape and state-of-art in municipal waste recovery will be presented, along with emerging technologies and commercial capabilities.

Intended benefits/outcomes:

Close gaps for effective and assured recycling and recovery of waste;
Promote international R&D collaborative action;
Match existing commercial capabilities to end users and requirements;
Provide use cases and translation opportunities for new IP/start-ups.

Funding was provided by the British Council and Ministry of Education Malaysia to Cranfield University and the University of Malaya, respectively, to support the bespoke partnership activities under the Higher Education Partnerships Programme: Enhancing Sustainability of Technology Transfer and Research Management in Higher Education Institutions through strategic UK-Malaysia University Partnerships.

Event programme

UK – Malaysia Joint Workshop on Improving Waste Management and Recycling

10.30-11.00	Reception and registration
11.00-11.10	Welcome address
	Landscape
11.10-11.40	Challenge statements and policy directions – University of Malaya Center for Research in Waste Management
11.40-11.50	UK landscape - programmes, funding and agency support
11.50-12.10	International engagement
12.10-12.30	Municipal waste management current practices – case studies
12.30-13.15	Lunch and networking
	Perspectives
13.15-13.25	Understanding impacts of waste and environmental challenges
	What is needed to facilitate effective waste management
13.25-13.35	Live data platforms for mapping the generation, movement and fate of waste
13.35-13.45	Real-time waste analysis
13.45-13.55	Waste separation
	Technology solutions
13.55-14.05	Hazardous waste site remediation
14.05-14.15	Energy from waste
14.15-14.35	Recycling plastic aluminium laminates
14.35-14.50	Food waste processing
14.50-15.15	Refreshments and networking
15.15-16.00	Panel discussion – questions and answers