Salford hosts first FIVE-C Symposium to rethink circularity

We’re getting better at recycling. But what if the bigger challenge is that we’ve designed so many things to become waste in the first place? 

A circular economy looks beyond the familiar “take, make, use and dispose” model, asking how products and materials can be designed to stay in use for longer – through repair, reuse, remanufacturing and recycling – while keeping as much of their value as possible. 

It sounds simple. In practice, it means rethinking how we design products, use materials, run businesses and make decisions as consumers. 

And no single sector can solve that challenge alone. 

That was the focus of the first FIVE-C Network Symposium, which brought together eight universities from across the UK - including Salford, Exeter, Manchester, Edinburgh and University College London - alongside industry experts, funders, RTOs (research and technology organisations) and trade associations, to explore circularity across areas including materials, construction, healthcare, fashion and textiles, digital innovation and offshore wind. 

Rather than looking at these challenges in isolation, the event brought different sectors and disciplines into the same conversation. 

Circularity starts before the recycling bin 

When people hear “circular economy”, recycling is often the first thing that comes to mind. But by the time a product reaches the end of its life, many opportunities to retain its value may already have been lost. 

Professor Fiona Charnley, Professor of Circular Innovation at the University of Exeter, highlighted the importance of bringing circular thinking into the design stage. 

Healthcare provides a striking example. Large amounts of medical technology are designed for single use before being disposed of. Finding better ways to recycle those products matters, but so does asking whether they could have been designed differently in the first place. 

That shift – from dealing with waste to designing it out – was a recurring theme throughout the event. 

The barriers aren't always technical 

Amy Peace, Innovation Lead for Circular Economy at Innovate UK, highlighted another challenge: circular solutions make sense in theory, but can become much harder to implement when they meet the realities of business. 

“Although at the top level, it seems like the most logistical thing to do with the material or a product, when you get down to the individual business involved in that chain, if everybody’s not getting their needs met, if everybody’s not making a profit, then it doesn’t work.” 

Amy also explored the role of lifecycle assessment (LCA) in understanding whether a solution is genuinely more sustainable. She pointed to a skills gap in industry, where businesses may not have the expertise to even commission an LCA, alongside the methodological challenges involved in carrying one out. 

The message was clear: circular innovation needs to look beyond whether something is technically possible, and consider how it works across the wider system. 

For Dr Faye Smith, Chair of Composites UK, the same principle applies to innovation: “The biggest barrier is that people think invention is innovation.” 

In the composites sector, legislation is creating pressure to recycle more, but the supply chain needed to make that possible is still developing. A new recycling technology may solve one part of the problem, but businesses also need to understand the economics around it – from sourcing and processing materials to investment and demand for the end product. 

Breaking out of silos 

This complexity is one of the reasons the FIVE-C Network was established by the University of Salford. Building on expertise developed through the DICE Network, FIVE-C focuses on cross-sector collaboration around circularity, recognising that innovation can happen where different sectors and disciplines meet. 

For Dr Silvia Tedesco, Associate Professor for Sustainability at the University of Salford and event lead, universities have an important role to play: “If we want industry to follow, we need universities to lead by example.” 

For Silvia, that means challenging disciplinary silos and bringing together different expertise and voices to tackle problems that no single discipline can solve alone.  

The symposium put that principle into practice, bringing together academics, businesses, policymakers and the wider innovation ecosystem into the same room. 

Starting a conversation that can lead somewhere 

The first FIVE-C Network Symposium wasn’t about finding one single answer to the circular economy challenge. Its value was in creating space for new conversations, challenging assumptions and connecting people who might not otherwise have met. 

The programme closed with a consortium formation activity, giving participants the opportunity to explore shared interests and potential areas for future collaboration. 

The challenge now is to keep those conversations going. 

Because moving towards a more circular economy will take more than a new recycling process or a clever piece of technology. It will require different parts of the system to work together – from how products are designed and materials recovered, to the businesses that make and use them and the people who decide to repair, reuse or replace. 

The first FIVE-C Symposium was a starting point. The opportunity now is to see where those conversations can lead.