• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
Engineering Designer Magazine

Engineering Designer

  • Home
  • Technology
  • Education
  • Sustainability
  • Materials
  • Medical
  • Construction
  • Advertise
  • iED
You are here: Home / Sustainability / John Lewis launches circular economy fund

John Lewis launches circular economy fund

November 23, 2021 by Geordie Torr

The John Lewis Partnership, owner of John Lewis and Waitrose, has launched a £1million fund to support projects designed to end the UK high street’s ‘throwaway’ culture and create a more circular economy.

Advertisement

The Circular Future Fund, which is aimed at identifying trailblazing innovators who are challenging the current ‘make, use, throw away’ model, is inviting academics, charities and start-ups that have ideas for ways that we can reduce the environmental impact of the food, clothing and gadgets that we buy, to pitch for a share of the money.

According to Marija Rompani, the group’s director of ethics and sustainability, tackling the climate crisis, biodiversity loss, waste and pollution is going to require a ‘different kind of thinking’.

Advertisement

‘We live in a world of finite materials and we need to start protecting them before it’s too late,’ she said. ‘This is why we’re particularly looking for projects that are regenerative and can eliminate waste or pollution from the design stage.’

Working in partnership with environmental charity Hubbub, John Lewis will use the fund to attempt to unearth new scalable ideas that could then be shared widely in order to accelerate the transition to a more circular economy.

‘If we want to tackle climate change and reduce our environmental impact, we have to place more value on the goods we produce, buy and use,’ said Saskia Restorick, director at Hubbub. ‘There are some exciting innovations happening right now and it’s fantastic that the John Lewis Partnership is creating this fund to back some of these.’

The £1million in funds, which John Lewis raised from the sale of 10p plastic bags in stores, will be divvied out in grants of between £150,000 and £300,000. Academia, charities, social enterprises and businesses that are less than five years old are being asked to submit bids by 9 January 2022. An independent panel will review the bids in March and the grants will be awarded the following month.

The new fund follows on from Waitrose and Hubbub’s Plan Plastic, a £1million grant fund launched in 2019, which was also raised from sales of single-use plastic bags and supported five organisations engaged in projects to reduce plastic waste.

Filed Under: Sustainability

Advertisement

Primary Sidebar

SUBSCRIBE And get a FREE Magazine

Want a FREE magazine each and every month jam-packed with the latest engineering and design news, views and features?

ED Update Magazine

Simply let us know where to send it by entering your name and email below. Immediate access.

Trending

Government funds awarded for design of Thames hydrogen refuelling vessel and refilling station

Loughborough-supported entrepreneur shortlisted for Midlands Women in Tech Awards

Ansys to provide simulation software for F1 in Schools

New interactive tool can assist engineered design of cross-laminated timber systems

Toyota reveals British-built, hydrogen-fuelled Hilux prototype

Strathclyde student team wins award in international marine competition

Reimagining next-generation drivetrain technologies for offshore wind turbines

CALLUM unveils high-spec martini mixer

Researchers from the Universities of Strathclyde and Dundee to help make the health ecosystem greener

New aerospace manufacturing and design facility completed in Gloucestershire

Footer

About Engineering Designer

Engineering Designer is the quarterly journal of the Insitution of Engineering Designers.

It is produced by the IED for our Members and for those who have an interest in engineering and product design, as well as CAD users.

Click here to learn more about the IED.

Other Pages

  • Contact us
  • About us
  • Privacy policy
  • Terms
  • Institution of Engineering Designers

Search

Tags

ied

Copyright © 2023 · Site by Syon Media