I had the chance to represent Drexel University College of Engineering at the REMADE Institute conference in Washington DC. It was amazing to learn more about the innovations in materials, systems, and processes to enable a circular economy in the United States. The conference brought together industry, academia, and government to discuss the state of the circular economy in the US. The REMADE institute is driving important transformations in the manufacturing industry. My main takeaways:
– the US government, scientists, and some major corporations understand the need for circular economy in the path towards industry decarbonization. We’re clear on the WHY, so we have moved on to HOW.
– we need more collaboration across sectors: the manufacturing industry is advancing but construction is lagging behind. People don’t realize that buildings are banks for many of the same materials discussed in other sectors. I’ve met another Brazilian scientist working on design for disassembly for manufacturing, and his research overlapped with mine in many aspects (I work with design for disassembly for buildings). Especially as prefabrication becomes more established in the US and we bridge construction and manufacturing, we need to translate and accelerate knowledge sharing across sectors!
– social justice remains an elusive concept in circular economy. We keep talking about number of jobs as the one and only social outcome from circular economy, and we don’t discuss the quality of the jobs or the disproportionate impacts of our industries on vulnerable communities.
We need to make circular economy more human. And please, let’s make buildings a part of the conversation!
Thanks to the REMADE institute and NSF for the travel award! ♻️