NICER INSIGHT REPORT: TECHNOLOGY INNOVATIONS IN THE CIRCULAR ECONOMY

CE HUB 2025

NICER PROGRAMME INSIGHT REPORT

The UKRI NICER programme has been extremely successful in generating new technologies (and enhancing existing ones) of the type that will be paramount in the planning and execution of a variety of steps towards ensuring that our future material world is more circular in nature and therefore more sustainable. This Insights Report summarises the wide array of technology innovations developed over the course of the NICER programme across all material sectors described below, briefly explains the potential for their real-world impact on Circular Economy activity, and signposts the reader to where they can find further information on these innovations.

The five material flows focussed on in this programme are Metals (primarily high-volume use metals such as aluminium and steel); Technology Metals (such as those used in digital devices, batteries, solar panels, magnets etc); Mineral-based Construction Materials (e.g. aggregate, cement, brick, plasterboard, stone and glass); Chemicals (primarily olefins, such as ethylene and propylene); and Textiles (with a focus on turning bio-waste into renewable materials that can be used in textiles).