Search results

The Importance of a Circular Economy to Reduce Our Impact on the Environment

The circular economy involves sharing, leasing, reusing, repairing, refurbishing and recycling existing materials and products for as long as possible. In this way, the life cycle of products is extended and waste is reduced to a minimum.

The Benefits of a Circular Economy Include:

Reducing Our Impact on the Environment:

Reusing and recycling products slows down the depletion of natural resources, reduces greenhouse gas emissions, mitigates landscape and habitat disruption and helps to limit biodiversity loss. Innovations that enable efficient and sustainable recycling will assist in reducing plastic waste, energy usage and resource consumption.

Reduce Raw Material Dependence:

The world's population is growing, increasing the demand for limited raw materials. Recycling raw materials mitigates the risks associated with supply, such as price volatility, availability and import dependency.

Create Jobs and Innovative Products:

Transitioning to a circular economy could enhance competitiveness, foster innovation across sectors, bolster economic growth, and generate jobs. All while providing consumers with more durable, innovative products that improve quality of life.

The Department of Science and Innovation (DSI) is actively contributing to the growth of the circular economy within South Africa.

Find our more

New Models with Emerging Issues

The circular economy holds a promising future. The complementary approaches outlined below, focusing on product life extension and collaboration, serve as effective means to accelerate sustainable development.

Building a Guiding Framework to Unlock Innovation

Establishing a network of responsible stakeholders sharing a common vision and goal is crucial for enabling a circular economy. It necessitates a guiding framework fostering commitment, trust and guarantees that facilitate the commercialisation of innovation with positive impacts on industry, customers, communities and the environment. This supports a collaborative approach between the public and private sectors.

Supporting New Virtuous Initiatives

Circular and collaborative initiatives often encounter challenges in reaching their goals, hindering their development, scalability and long-term sustainability. It is the responsibility of public and private entities to support these initiatives, particularly start-ups. They may require assistance in adapting their business models, securing funding, or attracting customers.

Achieving a Win-Win Situation

Implemented solutions must benefit everyone involved. This embodies a core principle of the circular economy where all stakeholders must experience environmental, social, and economic gains to ensure long-term success.

Many companies have already embarked on their ecological transition by implementing corporate social responsibility (CSR) strategies. By collectively committing themselves, they can further reduce their environmental impact without compromising their economic interests.

At the DSI, we collaborate with businesses and institutions operating in the circular economy, equipping them with the skills and resources needed to scale their offerings.

Find our more

Innovations and Partnerships Supporting the Circular Economy

Collaboration and partnership are fundamental to driving significant advancements. At the Department of Science and Innovation (DSI), we collaborate with innovative and ambitious minds to provide solutions that help industries reduce their environmental impact. We offer leadership, an enabling environment and resources for science, technology and innovation through various programs and partnerships.

DSI collaborating partners include:

• CSIR / BIDF
• EPCM
• UNISA / P2Power
• UNISA / NanoMagh™

For more information about our partners and the pioneering projects they are involved in, visit innovation.bridge.info.

How to Access Local Innovation and Compete in the Circular Economy

The Department of Science and Innovation (DSI) has launched an initiative to promote local circular technology innovations, focusing on zero-waste manufacturing and conversion technology. These innovations transform plastic into power, harmful acid mine drainage (AMD) into reusable water for irrigation and CO2 emissions into fertilizer.

Find our more

Professor Mike Sathekge, Leading the Way in Nuclear Medicine

Mike Sathekge is a Professor and Head of the Nuclear Medicine department at the University of Pretoria and Steve Biko Academic Hospital. He also heads the South African Nuclear Medicine Research Infrastructure (NuMeRI). He shares with us some information on who NuMeRI is, what they do, and why it is so important.

“NuMeRI is an imaging and therapeutic facility that diagnoses and treats diseases early. Our innovative imaging equipment enables us to diagnose and treatment. This informs drug development and clinical research that improves access to quality healthcare in South Africa,” says Professor Mike Sathekge.

“It allows early and accurate diagnosis and, therefore, treatment for diseases such as cancer, heart diseases, and infections such as tuberculosis (TB). The overall aim is to improve the survival rate and quality of life.

The services we offer include basic and translational research, radiopharmacy, preclinical imaging, medical physics and radiobiology, node of infection imaging, and clinical research services. We will be adding more nodes, covering additional niche areas in several universities in the future.

We work primarily with public and private hospitals and universities, as well as pharmaceutical and medical equipment companies, and medical practitioners locally and internationally. We are an important part of South Africa’s bioeconomy strategy.

As a non-profit organisation that is a flagship initiative of the Department of Science and Innovation (DSI), our purpose is to translate health innovation research into solutions that positively impact healthcare,” says Professor Mike Sathekge.

Find our more

NuMeRi Supporting Healthcare Research and Development

Once fully established, NuMeRi will provide support for South African healthcare research and development, as well as commercially-driven healthcare companies. This will strengthen the nuclear medicine capacity in South Africa and Africa.

Supporting Local Drug Development

NuMeRi aims to expedite the development of drugs to address national priority diseases, enabling new pharmaceuticals to reach the market sooner – reducing the process timelines from 12 years to 3 - 5 years. This will give South African pharmaceutical development a competitive edge over global equivalents. The accelerated timelines offer cost advantages while improving the quality of life of South Africans.

Positioning South Africa as a Competitive, Global Leader

The facility will elevate South Africa’s pharmaceutical industry within the global setting, and simultaneously boost the nuclear medicine community by nurturing and growing local competence and expertise, creating a platform for skilled job creation. The facility will be instrumental in enhancing South Africa’s competitiveness in global markets through innovative ideas and, potentially, encourage the establishment of new privately-owned facilities of the same nature and attract foreign investment.

Developing Local Expertise

The expertise developed will give budding young scientists access to quality, world-class training. NuMeRI will participate in bilateral programs and collaborate with researchers globally to build South Africa’s research capacity – contributing to South Africa’s target of being “one of the top three emerging economies in the global pharmaceutical industry, based on expansive innovation system”.

Find our more

The Critical Role of Conversion Technologies in Zero Waste

Conversion technologies encompass a range of advanced processes designed to convert waste materials into valuable products like green fuels and renewable energy sources. These technologies employ environmentally beneficial methods to convert waste into something useful.

Conversion technologies offer substantial benefits to sectors that significantly impact the environment and are major contributors to carbon emissions. By adopting these technologies, industries can lessen their environmental footprint and reduce carbon output, contributing to a cleaner and more sustainable future.

For instance, utilising specialised nanotechnology can significantly benefit the mining industry by converting acid mine drainage (AMD) into resources valuable for agriculture and industry, supporting environmental restoration and economic activities. This process not only aids in environmental restoration but also supports economic activities in sectors reliant on these resources.

Similarly, in plastic waste management, conversion technologies can repurpose plastics into energy and biofuels, addressing the dual challenges of waste accumulation and energy sustainability.

South Africa is no stranger to innovation in this space. Supported by the Department of Science and Innovation (DSI), there are many cutting-edge initiatives taking place locally.

Find our more

Closing the Loop on Industrial Biomass Waste with the CSIR’s Biorefinery Technology

The Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR)'s Biorefinery Industry Development Facility (BIDF) is championing technologies to maximise resource efficiency and extract maximum value from biomass and organic waste streams, with a strong focus on South Africa’s forestry, pulp and paper sectors. This state-of-the-art facility supports research, development and piloting efforts by companies spanning major industry players to small and medium enterprises.

Through the Department of Science and Innovation (DSI)-supported programs and by leveraging specialised infrastructure including analytical laboratories, a biomass processing pilot plant and an expert team of chemists, engineers and biologists, the Biorefinery Industry Development Facility (BIDF) has already enabled 22 enterprises to improve sustainability and create higher-value products from forestry waste and other organic biomass residues that would otherwise be discarded or underutilised.

Find our more

UNISA Leads the Way in Converting Acid Mine Drainage (AMD) into Vital Water Resources

Acid mine drainage (AMD) from mining operations poses severe environmental and health risks, as the acidic, metal-laden water can contaminate soil and water sources when untreated into the environment. This toxic discharge threatens ecosystems, poisons the food chain and impacts communities relying on these resources.

The University of South Africa (UNISA) has developed an innovative NanoMagh™ technology harnessing maghemite nanoparticles to effectively remove sulphates along with heavy metals like manganese, copper, nickel, cobalt, and zinc from Acid mine drainage (AMD) at low pH levels. This cutting-edge approach combines adsorption to bind contaminants and precipitation to concentrate them for removal.

A major advantage of UNISA's technology is that it uses far fewer chemicals compared to conventional treatment methods relying on alkaline industrial inputs, making it much more cost-effective. Equally important, it recovers usable water after extracting the pollutants, providing a new source of irrigation water to boost agricultural productivity in South Africa's drought-prone regions.

This advanced technology offers the mining sector an improved and more economical approach to Acid mine drainage (AMD) management.

Find our more

EPCM Global’s Blueprint for Reducing Emissions and Enhancing Soil Health

EPCM Global, a research-driven management consulting firm with specialised expertise in Multi-Pollutant Emissions Abatement Technology, is developing a pioneering system to capture flue gas from coal-fired power plants through its CoalCO2-X program, in partnership with the Department of Science and Innovation (DSI).

Flue gas is a harmful gaseous mixture of pollutants created during combustion that is known for its significant CO2 emissions when released untreated. EPCM's approach utilises green ammonia and green hydrogen to chemically convert components of flue gas into value-added products such as fertilisers, sulfuric acid, and other materials.

By productising these emissions that would otherwise cause air pollution and contribute to climate change, EPCM's flue gas conversion technology reduces the negative environmental impact associated with coal power generation. Simultaneously, it can help generate essential agricultural commodities such as fertilisers, which are vital for bolstering food production across South Africa. This exemplifies a circular model of extracting economic value from an industrial waste.

Industries powered by coal seeking to reduce their environmental footprint can engage with us and find out more about the program

Find our more

Turning the Tables on Plastic Waste with UNISA's Energy-Generating Technology

The ubiquity of single-use plastics like packaging and bags has created an environmental crisis, as these non-biodegradable materials persist for centuries as unsightly, toxic pollution contaminating landscapes and waterways worldwide. The University of South Africa (UNISA) P2Power technology offers an innovative solution, providing a way to extract valuable gas from polyethylene-based plastic waste instead of treating it as disposable garbage.

The P2Power process gasifies plastic waste through an approach that avoids the costly air separation required in conventional gasification technologies that rely on pure oxygen. This technology eliminates the energy-intensive separation step, significantly reducing energy costs.

Additionally, the system is engineered to recover a portion of the latent heat contained in the water vapor produced during gasification, further boosting its overall energy efficiency. The end product is a versatile synthesis gas (syngas) that can be utilised as fuel or for producing ammonia and methanol.

By converting plastic pollution into energy, this innovation ideally serves the waste management profession, offering a pathway to convert plastic waste into useful materials.

Find our more

How the DSI Supports Local Innovations and How You Can Get Involved

Recognising the pressing need to transition towards a more circular economy that minimises waste and environmental harm, we are prioritising funding, research support and the promotion of local innovations across areas like zero-waste manufacturing processes and conversion technologies that support a circular economy approach.

By reducing pollution, conserving resources, and deriving economic value from materials that would otherwise be discarded as environmental hazards, the Department of Science and Innovation (DSI) supports initiatives that offer immense potential for benefiting industry, agriculture, communities, and the environment.

To find out more about accessing these circular technology innovations or to engage with the various project leaders, visit www.innovationbridge.info. DSI, making sure it’s possible.

Find our more