UK – Government backs remanufacturing and reuse of goods

RRF member Oakdene Hollins has won £700,000 of funding to run the UK‘‘s Centre for Remanufacturing & Reuse. Working with leading companies in the £5 billion sector, universities and other Government agencies, it will promote the remanufacture of used goods and equipment. This returns them to market in as-new condition or better.



This is the second year of funding for Oakdene Hollins and followed a successful first year when it managed the top ranked pilot programme under Defra‘‘s Business Resource Efficiency & Waste programme. The first year involved understanding what was happening in key industrial sectors, and what particular assistance would be most effective in helping to boost reuse of the products involved. Products ranged from toner cartridges to tyres and engines up to jet engines and aircraft.



“We have a broad strand of activities in progress,” says David Parker, Head of Remanufacturing at Oakdene Hollins, “some of them in conjunction with other support agencies such as Envirowise and WRAP. However, we have a distinct focus on reuse as opposed to recycling.” David continues: “One of the aims is to obtain a better understanding of the remanufacturing sector and to translate that into effective action that the Government can take to promote it.”



Specific topics of interest include:





How remanufacturing companies can best promote themselves – individually or as a group; the potential for offering tax breaks for remanufactured products

how to help purchasers buy remanufactured products with confidence

how government may best spread the message of the benefits of remanufacturing.



The Centre‘‘s web-site is currently being revamped to address the needs of the different perspectives.



“We want to identify the new frontiers for remanufacturing,” David Parker says. “We‘‘re driven by the needs of industry; we‘‘re open to other people‘‘s suggestions and ideas and we want to explore a broad range of possibilities,” he points out, “to facilitate exchange of experiences and technical expertise between a wide range of industries involved in remanufacturing. Can the aerospace industry, for instance, learn from other prime operators such as Xerox, which has created its own ISO standard? Can others learn from automotive remanufacturers? And what‘‘s happening internationally? These are just some of the issues that industry would like us to look.”