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IT Upgrade: The future of recycling office e-waste

Podcasts | 21 May 2025

Barney Tan

Professor and Senior Deputy Dean, Impact and Partnerships

Juliet Bourke

Adjunct Professor

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From trash to treasure: James Lancaster, founder and CEO of Renew IT, is turning your e-waste into valuable new products

About the episode

Every second, 12 tonnes of plastic are manufactured globally, and millions of tonnes end up as waste.

For entrepreneur James Lancaster, this stark reality drove him to create Renew IT, a company dedicated to sustainability, in a bid to tackle the problem head-on.

What started as a recycling business that generated value from discarded electronics became a passion. After a decade of recycling old office printers and monitors, Renew IT partnered with UNSW to develop world-first technology that turns e-waste plastic into 3D printer filament.

James believes the solution to our global waste issue lies in innovative technologies.

This episode is hosted by Dr Juliet Bourke, with insights from Professor Barney Tan.

Want to know more?

For the latest news and research from UNSW Business School and AGSM @ UNSW Business School, subscribe to our industry stories at BusinessThink and follow us on LinkedIn: UNSW Business School and AGSM @ UNSW Business School.

Transcript

James Lancaster: The biggest problem that we have in the world today is we've got 12 tonnes of plastic being manufactured every second globally. We've got 400 million tonnes of plastic waste going into the oceans and going into landfill. The byproduct of that is microplastics, which end up in us.

Dr Juliet Bourke: For entrepreneur James Lancaster, statistics like this have been life-changing. James didn't originally set out to become an environmental advocate when he founded Renew IT back in 2008, but his passion for sustainability has evolved with his business. After a decade of recycling e-waste for companies, he partnered with UNSW to develop technology that converts e-waste plastic into re-manufactured 3D printer filament.

James Lancaster: So if we can actually convert these old printers – for example, toner cartridges, which are made from real high-grade quality ABS. If we can convert that into tables, chairs, electrical clamps, wastepaper bins, other items that can be used then we can reduce the demand for virgin plastic.

Dr Juliet Bourke: This year they've launched the first filament microfactory, which they believe will revolutionise the way companies recycle e-waste.

James Lancaster: And if we just future gaze a little bit, there are telecommunications companies out there that have shop fronts in every high street. The vision there would be, quite simply, we could make all their furniture in their stores from their waste modems. So we can take all those old plastic modems, put them through the filament machine and make nice tables and chairs for them.

Dr Juliet Bourke: I'm Dr Juliet Bourke, an Adjunct Professor at the School of Management and Governance at the UNSW Business School. This is The Business Of. James, take me back to the start of Renew IT. What was the catalyst for starting the business?

James Lancaster: Well, back in 2008 I was at a crossroads, really, in what I wanted to do. So I decided to set the business up for nothing more than just monetary reasons – to make money. It was really that simple. But as the business grew and I was exposed more to this problem, then as industry founders, I feel as though we have a responsibility to try and solve for this problem that is pretty obviously getting worse and worse and worse. So I didn't start off as an evangelical environmentalist. I just started off as a guy that just wanted to make money for my family, but found myself somewhat being now this environmental, you know, preacher, and trying to get people to do the right thing. And I guess that's just evolved.

Dr Juliet Bourke: So what was Renew IT's purpose in the beginning?

James Lancaster: So we would go into a corporation when they were doing a laptop refresh. We would take away their old laptop devices and we would sanitise the data, give them their data wipe certificates and on-sell the devices. That's just one part of it. There's a byproduct of doing that – when you go into office environments and take away their tech and refresh it, there's a lot of products in there that don't have a secondary value, multifunction printers being one of them. And this is a problem that didn't show itself initially, but over the years we started to accumulate hundreds and hundreds of these printers. And it was pretty obvious that if this is just us that's sitting in a warehouse with 1000 of these printers that don't have a value, then this problem is much bigger. So in 2018, a friend of mine sent me an article from Science magazine with Professor Veena Sahajwalla promoting her e-waste microfactory. I was intrigued with the technology and the purpose that she had. She was talking about breaking down the material, separating the plastic in the metals, extracting the various different metals from this e-waste and repurposing it back into the supply chain. And likewise with the plastic, she was developing a plastic filament line that could accumulate all this ABS plastic, shred it and convert it into 3D printer filament, then you can make anything, right? The biggest problem that we have in the world today is we've got 12 tonnes of plastic being manufactured every second globally, we've got 400 million tonnes of plastic waste going into the oceans and going into landfill. The byproduct of that is microplastics, which end up in us. And not just in our organs.

Dr Juliet Bourke: I think I heard we've all got a teaspoon of microplastics in our brains?

James Lancaster: The brain's the interesting one, right? There's also a relation to the microplastics in the brain and further sort of brain disease, brain damage, dementia, you know, all these sorts of different knock-on effects, I guess, of having these toxins in your brain, and that's a real concern. Now, what we have is not something that is the total solution, but it's certainly part of the solution. So if we can actually convert these old printers - for example, toner cartridges, which are made from real, high-grade quality ABS. If we can convert that into tables, chairs, electrical clamps, waste paper bins, other items that can be used, then we're going to reduce the demand for virgin plastic. And that's what it's about, it's about trying to get this 12 tonnes a second number reduced because we can reuse the waste that we've got. Not just recycling it - we're not just talking about getting a bin and making a bin - but why don't we get a bin and recycle it, upcycle it rather and make a part for a car that's more valuable? So that's really where we're trying to get to.

Dr Juliet Bourke: You had a business that was just re-using e-waste products.

James Lancaster: Yeah.

Dr Juliet Bourke: But now you've got a business which is actually using the plastics and converting them into filament. When did the transition happen?

James Lancaster: It's taken years. It's been a real long journey, and we've had a lot of trial and error. In the early days the plastic that we were making we didn't get the quality right. We've had to work at it to make sure that the product that we were getting was, to be frank, better than new. Really, that's what we're trying to do with the filament machine. So we started our relationship with Veena back in 2018, well late last year we received the machine. It's been a long journey to get to this point because we wanted to make it sure it was right before we could go out there and sell filament. Let's just look at who would want this product that we're creating. That's the first question that we asked ourselves. And if we look at schools in Australia – there are nearly 10,000 schools in Australia. Each one of those schools, more than likely, will have a 3D printer. And from that 3D printer they'll be using one or two spools a week.

Dr Juliet Bourke: Of virgin plastic?

James Lancaster: Of virgin plastic material. So that's nearly 20,000 spools of filament a week that we're using just in schools. Not just the virgin filament at the front end, but what about the waste at the back end? So the children make something, a prototype, that they're working on. It goes into an exhibition and then at the end does the child take it home. Maybe they do. Do they not? Maybe they don't. Where does it end up?

Dr Juliet Bourke: Probably, if there are a few of them, mum tosses them out.

James Lancaster: Right. So we will take that back and we'll reuse it again and again and again and again. So that's the whole point of what we're doing here. We're not just doing a first run of doing the right thing, but it's a continual process of accepting that waste back, putting it back through the technology, the thermal transformation, and creating new filament again with it. And that's why we've gone 3D printer filament rather than pellets for mass manufacturing, because we want to be able to build anything. You know, a lot of people say, "But printers, 3D printers, they're so slow." Well they're getting quicker. Things that take hours to print, in the future will be getting printed in minutes. And that future is not too far away. So the additive manufacturing industry is a booming industry and it's taking off, and if we can be some way part of that early on in our journey, by being able to offer people re-manufactured filament, then we're going to hopefully try and reduce this 12 tonnes a second number that I referred to earlier down, and that's the objective for us.

Dr Juliet Bourke: So where do you see microfactories going? What's the future?

James Lancaster: Well, we've already started taking orders for furniture parts actually that are going into student accommodation. So when a student arrives at his or her new digs, we present them with a catalogue of parts that they can order and we're helping supply those parts from the filament that we're using 3D printed parts. Could be anything simple from a wastepaper basket to a chair or a table. And so we've already started fulfilling the order for... I think 600 wastepaper bins is the first order, and we've started going into production to make those.

Dr Juliet Bourke: Is that UNSW that you're doing it for? Or another uni?

James Lancaster: No, it's not. All universities have got access to this through a company that we've just partnered with.

Dr Juliet Bourke: But you've only got one machine.

James Lancaster: We've only got one machine

Dr Juliet Bourke: How are you gonna do this?

James Lancaster: Yeah, that's right. So we're gonna have to expand.

Dr Juliet Bourke: How much can one machine get through?

James Lancaster: We could produce around 35 spools an hour. So that's 35 kilogram spools.

Dr Juliet Bourke: Right, and I think you said before that with schools they might use two spools...

James Lancaster: Two spools a week.

Dr Juliet Bourke: A week.

James Lancaster: Yeah. And if we just future gaze a little bit, there are telecommunications companies out there that have shop fronts in every high street. The vision there would be, quite simply, we could make all their furniture in their stores from their waste modems. So we could take all those old plastic modems, put them through the filament machine, and make nice tables and chairs for them. And they could be pointing to these tables and chairs and say that was made from a 4G modem.

Dr Juliet Bourke: The business model for you then has two parts to it, right? So it's got you recycling products, and then it's got you creating these new filaments. Is there another aspect to your business model that keeps you afloat?

James Lancaster: Yeah, yeah, absolutely. So we are a professional services company as well. So we have around 150 technicians in Australia and New Zealand who provide professional services to companies. So installation, imaging of devices, delivery. That whole employee satisfaction piece. It's our job to really enable our customers to achieve their business outcomes and goals. So if we can help do that through making sure when a new employee starts at the organisation, he or she can open that device and it's got the company software already pre installed, it's all ready to go, and there's zero touch for the company to get involved, then we're doing our jobs right.

Dr Juliet Bourke: You've got your finger in a number of different pies. Where do you see the future of e-waste recycling?

James Lancaster: We've got one filament machine at the moment, in Lane Cove. This is a global product. We want to take it overseas. First of all, we're going to expand in Australia. So we'll take a filament machine to WA. We'll take one to Canberra, Melbourne, NT, Queensland. We want to make sure we've got microfactories in all states and territories in Australia, first, we'll then look to put one in Auckland in New Zealand. But then really we want to expand into Southeast Asia. That's where we see there being a huge demand for re-manufacturing, and we're already speaking with governments in that region to see if they would like to invest in our technology.

Dr Juliet Bourke: Are there challenges as well? Not just challenges with your brand getting known in the market, but challenges with usage, or challenges because there's a competitor out there, or...?

James Lancaster: For us, the challenge is around servicing the equipment, particularly overseas. We host a couple of the technicians from a particular country or region, we train them over two weeks, and we provide them with ongoing support for the duration of the life of the machine. Now that's... the challenge is obviously different time zones, different hours to work the support. In terms of competition, there's nobody competing in this space as yet. That will change, obviously, but right now this is protected IP that the university owns and we're the master licensee of that technology.

Dr Juliet Bourke: And have you seen other innovative e-waste technologies? What can we look forward to?

James Lancaster: Yeah, so breaking down batteries. There's a huge problem with battery swelling in laptops and transporting those devices by air or by sea. Freight companies won't accept that kind of product anymore because of the risk of explosion. So we're working on designing a transport box that will contain any damage from a lithium battery or faulty lithium battery for transportation. We are looking at extracting various different metals and oxides as well from circuit boards, motherboards, smartphones. That we can reuse those oxides and get them back into the supply chain. And all of these activities are designed to stimulate manufacturing in Australia again. And that's the great thing about this, is it's a sovereign solution. You know, we saw in COVID how dependent we were on countries like China to produce things for us. We couldn't get the goods in time, there was a huge shortage in supply. If we can get the manufacturing back up and running again in our own country then we're not going to have those sorts of problems in the future.

Barney Tan: So James' business model, with Renew IT, is a prime example of what is called the 'circular economy'.

Dr Juliet Bourke: That's Barney Tan. the Senior Deputy Dean for Impact and Partnerships at the UNSW Business School. He believes innovation in this e-waste space is on the rise.

Barney Tan: A circular economy is a consumption paradigm and an economic system aimed at eliminating waste and making the most of resources. Instead of the traditional take, make and dispose model, a circular economy emphasises reusing, remanufacturing and recycling products and materials to create a closed-loop system. Renew IT is a prime example of this in action. Instead of simply discarding obsolete IT devices and plastics they repurpose these materials, converting them into valuable 3D printer filament. Companies that embrace circular economy models, they do it because they deliver a dual set of benefits, both environmental and financial. On the environmental side, reducing waste and reusing materials obviously helps to lower carbon footprints, conserve resources and reduce the strain on natural ecosystems.

But there's also a compelling business case involved. Secular practices often lead to significant cost savings, reduce raw material expenses, and the creation of new revenue streams from recycled products. This model promotes financial sustainability by lowering long-term operational costs and mitigating risks related to resource scarcity. In today's market, where consumers and investors alike are increasingly mindful of sustainability, this is what they demand. So companies that integrate circular economy principles can enhance their brand reputation, drive innovation and, to that end, build more resilient business models.

While there are benefits to a circular economy, there are also certain challenges. Building sustainable supply chains is crucial for any circular economy initiative. It starts with establishing strong partnerships with suppliers who share your commitment to sustainability, and companies must implement systems for tracking materials throughout the product life cycle. For example, by diversifying supplies and incorporating local sourcing, where possible, a company can reduce its vulnerability to global supply shocks like what we saw during the COVID crisis. Investing in technology for real-time monitoring and data analytics can also help businesses anticipate potential issues and respond quickly.

Now in the context of Renew IT, this means not only ensuring a steady flow of e-waste materials, but also creating efficient processes to convert those materials into usable products, all the while maintaining high quality and minimising environmental impact. There are also, obviously, a number of other challenges, especially in terms of transnational circular economy-type business models. One big hurdle would be the upfront investments required to redesign your processes, products and supply chains, because traditional systems are often built around linear models. So shifting to a circular framework demands changes in technology infrastructure and even mindset. And especially in the transnational context, there's the big issue of regulatory support. You need to consider existing laws and standards which may not yet be optimised for secular practices, which makes compliance and standardisation all the more challenging. And of course, you also have to think about consumer behaviour and market acceptance, which can differ across geographic boundaries. They can be barriers if people aren't fully aware or committed to sustainable practices. One commonly cited, standout example is Unilever.

Unilever has been integrating circular economy principles across its operations on a global level. They focus on designing products and packaging that are reusable, recyclable or compostable, and they actively incorporate recycled materials into their production processes. Effectively, their approach demonstrates that with these global circular economy practices you need to build an entire system that is centered on not just reducing waste but also creating cost efficiencies to drive innovation. You need to invest right from the beginning in sustainable sourcing and also recycling infrastructures, and in doing so, Unilever has managed to align its environmental goals with actually strong financial performance. Their comprehensive strategy sets a benchmark for other transnational companies, showing that sustainability and profitability can, in fact, go hand in hand.

Dr Juliet Bourke: What are the other sustainability measures companies should be looking at right now? Carbon offsetting seems to be one that we hear quite a lot about. What are your views on that?

James Lancaster: It's like having a swear jar on the table, isn't it, and still behaving poorly. But "Oops, we'll just put $1 in the jar, and, you know, we'll plant a tree, or we'll do something makes us feel good." You know, sustainability has become about feeling good. You know, making people feel as though we're doing the right thing, or that I'm doing the right thing or you're doing the right thing.

Dr Juliet Bourke: So if carbon offsetting isn't the best solution, what should we be thinking about?

James Lancaster: It's about behavioural change. You know, it's really changed behaviour. And also sometimes, you know, you have to get your procurement team in line with your sustainability team. They're all driven on different KPIs. So the procurement team are out there procuring products to use inside their company, purely driven by dollar, and ultimately because of that, they'll be receiving a product that is not doing its best work for the environment. Now, if the sustainability team were in line with the procurement team you're going to have a different outcome. And that's the challenge that you've got across the whole of corporate Australia.

Dr Juliet Bourke: What about small business? What can they do?

James Lancaster: Well, small business is a little bit of an easier one. Again, you can control, you know, if you've got a business with 10 employees or less, you can control their habits a lot more. In terms of waste, you really need to speak to council a lot more and find out, ask more questions. What's happening to this? Where does it go? If you're using, you know, companies... I won't name any companies, but companies that come around and pick up your recycling at work, ask if you can visit the facility and see what happens. What's the process look like? I used to ask the same companies "What happens to my phone? If I give you my phone, what does the process look like? Can I come and have a look?" And of course, "No, you can't." Nine times out of 10, people... and this is rife in our industry, goods that are meant to be disposed of as well, companies actually resell them on when they shouldn't. They should actually be disposed of.

Dr Juliet Bourke: And why shouldn't they be reselling?

James Lancaster: Certain customers, whether it's Ministry of Defense or it could be police, you know, they'll have a specific mandate that certain items will actually need to be disposed of, and they don't want to see them back in the market again. But businesses in the past that I know of have done the wrong thing and resold these items. But then, you know, the alternative for a lot of these items is they get shredded. So once we start shredding equipment as well, we start cross-contaminating the metals and it makes it a lot harder to reuse those metals again.

Dr Juliet Bourke: So if you were advising a small business just one thing they could do - not just go and speak to council and trace the line of, you know, here's my product to here being recycled. What would that one thing be to make sure that they're treating their e-waste appropriately?

James Lancaster: I would make sure you've got a relationship with an ITAD organisation and an ITAD organisation that's fully accredited.

Dr Juliet Bourke: An ITAD organisation?

James Lancaster: Yeah, Information Technology Asset Disposition.

Dr Juliet Bourke: Nice.

James Lancaster: Yeah. So that describes, really, the activity that we do on a day-to-day basis, and that's taking back that old equipment, making sure that it doesn't end up in landfill. Either it gets reused or it gets upcycled. So every business out there, small or large, should have a relationship with an ITAD ... Just make sure you can follow the downstream process. Ask questions about the downstream process. Not everything that you dispose of will be reused, so ask the questions – what happens to the printers that you're not going to sell? Can you give me some guarantees that that won't end up in landfill?

Dr Juliet Bourke: So are businesses potentially leaving money on the table when they're not thinking about e-waste?

James Lancaster: Yeah, absolutely. Particularly with a lot of equipment that comes out of data centres as well. The industry that we operate in has the capability, not just Renew IT but other ITAD as well, has the capability to turn a lot of that equipment into i-value, and if you're working directly with an ITAD organisation, then there's a good chance that you're going to get a strong return on that equipment when it comes out of the environment.

Dr Juliet Bourke: So what are the motivations for people to pick up the phone to their ITAD? They're potentially going to make money other things as well?

James Lancaster: I think a lot of this comes down to value in your own organisation and making sure that what you're putting on your annual report is the right thing, and isn't just lip service. Having your responsible backend downstream policy on your waste is exactly what stakeholders and shareholders need in an organisation that they invested in. This isn't going away. In fact, you know, the problem is only going to get worse, particularly in a certain country with the return of the plastic straws, you know. Where do you think all this goes? Yes, the inconvenience of a paper straw, I get it. But where do you think all these plastic straws will end up again, you know? Back in our oceans, and the microplastic problem just gets bigger and bigger and bigger. So me, personally, I'd like to try and minimise the amount of microplastics that are in my body, and if I can do that by just making some simple tweaks to the way we operate as an organisation, then I'm all for it.

Dr Juliet Bourke: What are other companies that you look to? And they could be their own individual company how they treat e-waste or another founder company that you admire.

James Lancaster: Companies out there that are doing the right thing that I'm really impressed with, let's just take one example of Prada. You know, we look at textiles, everybody knows textile industry is a huge polluter. Fast fashion was there 190,000 garments being manufactured every minute in the world, and Prada their signature nylon products are now being remade from old nylon. So they're now not selling new nylon, virgin nylon materials, it's 're-nylon'. And just to think about that process of what they must go through, the additional work that they must go through to get that end product, but not pass those costs on to the consumer, is phenomenal. So I really admire what they're doing with their 're-nylon'.

Dr Juliet Bourke: Thanks to James Lancaster for joining us on this episode. The Business Of is brought to you by the University of New South Wales Business School, produced with Deadset Studios.

To stay up-to-date with our latest podcasts as well as the latest insights and thought leadership from the Business School, subscribe to BusinessThink.

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<h1>IT Upgrade: The future of recycling office e-waste</h1>

<figure><img src="?w=1320" /><figcaption></figcaption></figure>
 <h2>About the episode</h2>
Every second, 12 tonnes of plastic are manufactured globally, and millions of tonnes end up as waste.   
For entrepreneur James Lancaster, this stark reality drove him to create Renew IT, a company dedicated to sustainability, in a bid to tackle the problem head-on.  
What started as a recycling business that generated value from discarded electronics became a passion. After a decade of recycling old office printers and monitors, Renew IT partnered with UNSW to develop world-first technology that turns e-waste plastic into 3D printer filament.  
James believes the solution to our global waste issue lies in innovative technologies. 
This episode is hosted by <a href="https://www.unsw.edu.au/staff/juliet-bourke" data-new-window="true" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Dr Juliet Bourke</a>, with insights from <a href="https://www.unsw.edu.au/staff/barney-tan" data-new-window="true" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Professor Barney Tan</a>. 
<h2>Want to know more? </h2>
For the latest news and research from UNSW Business School and AGSM @ UNSW Business School, <a href="https://www.businessthink.unsw.edu.au/subscribe" data-new-window="true" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">subscribe</a> to our industry stories at <a href="https://www.businessthink.unsw.edu.au/" data-new-window="true" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">BusinessThink</a> and follow us on LinkedIn: <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/school/unswbusiness/mycompany/" data-new-window="true" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">UNSW Business School</a> and <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/school/agsm-nswbusinessschool/" data-new-window="true" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">AGSM @ UNSW Business School</a>.
<h2>Transcript</h2>
James Lancaster: The biggest problem that we have in the world today is we've got 12 tonnes of plastic being manufactured every second globally. We've got 400 million tonnes of plastic waste going into the oceans and going into landfill. The byproduct of that is microplastics, which end up in us.
Dr Juliet Bourke: For entrepreneur James Lancaster, statistics like this have been life-changing. James didn't originally set out to become an environmental advocate when he founded Renew IT back in 2008, but his passion for sustainability has evolved with his business. After a decade of recycling e-waste for companies, he partnered with UNSW to develop technology that converts e-waste plastic into re-manufactured 3D printer filament.
James Lancaster: So if we can actually convert these old printers – for example, toner cartridges, which are made from real high-grade quality ABS. If we can convert that into tables, chairs, electrical clamps, wastepaper bins, other items that can be used then we can reduce the demand for virgin plastic.
Dr Juliet Bourke: This year they've launched the first filament microfactory, which they believe will revolutionise the way companies recycle e-waste.
James Lancaster: And if we just future gaze a little bit, there are telecommunications companies out there that have shop fronts in every high street. The vision there would be, quite simply, we could make all their furniture in their stores from their waste modems. So we can take all those old plastic modems, put them through the filament machine and make nice tables and chairs for them.
Dr Juliet Bourke: I'm Dr Juliet Bourke, an Adjunct Professor at the School of Management and Governance at the UNSW Business School. This is The Business Of. James, take me back to the start of Renew IT. What was the catalyst for starting the business?
James Lancaster: Well, back in 2008 I was at a crossroads, really, in what I wanted to do. So I decided to set the business up for nothing more than just monetary reasons – to make money. It was really that simple. But as the business grew and I was exposed more to this problem, then as industry founders, I feel as though we have a responsibility to try and solve for this problem that is pretty obviously getting worse and worse and worse. So I didn't start off as an evangelical environmentalist. I just started off as a guy that just wanted to make money for my family, but found myself somewhat being now this environmental, you know, preacher, and trying to get people to do the right thing. And I guess that's just evolved.
Dr Juliet Bourke: So what was Renew IT's purpose in the beginning?
James Lancaster: So we would go into a corporation when they were doing a laptop refresh. We would take away their old laptop devices and we would sanitise the data, give them their data wipe certificates and on-sell the devices. That's just one part of it. There's a byproduct of doing that – when you go into office environments and take away their tech and refresh it, there's a lot of products in there that don't have a secondary value, multifunction printers being one of them. And this is a problem that didn't show itself initially, but over the years we started to accumulate hundreds and hundreds of these printers. And it was pretty obvious that if this is just us that's sitting in a warehouse with 1000 of these printers that don't have a value, then this problem is much bigger. So in 2018, a friend of mine sent me an article from Science magazine with Professor Veena Sahajwalla promoting her e-waste microfactory. I was intrigued with the technology and the purpose that she had. She was talking about breaking down the material, separating the plastic in the metals, extracting the various different metals from this e-waste and repurposing it back into the supply chain. And likewise with the plastic, she was developing a plastic filament line that could accumulate all this ABS plastic, shred it and convert it into 3D printer filament, then you can make anything, right? The biggest problem that we have in the world today is we've got 12 tonnes of plastic being manufactured every second globally, we've got 400 million tonnes of plastic waste going into the oceans and going into landfill. The byproduct of that is microplastics, which end up in us. And not just in our organs.
Dr Juliet Bourke: I think I heard we've all got a teaspoon of microplastics in our brains?
James Lancaster: The brain's the interesting one, right? There's also a relation to the microplastics in the brain and further sort of brain disease, brain damage, dementia, you know, all these sorts of different knock-on effects, I guess, of having these toxins in your brain, and that's a real concern. Now, what we have is not something that is the total solution, but it's certainly part of the solution. So if we can actually convert these old printers - for example, toner cartridges, which are made from real, high-grade quality ABS. If we can convert that into tables, chairs, electrical clamps, waste paper bins, other items that can be used, then we're going to reduce the demand for virgin plastic. And that's what it's about, it's about trying to get this 12 tonnes a second number reduced because we can reuse the waste that we've got. Not just recycling it - we're not just talking about getting a bin and making a bin - but why don't we get a bin and recycle it, upcycle it rather and make a part for a car that's more valuable? So that's really where we're trying to get to.
Dr Juliet Bourke: You had a business that was just re-using e-waste products.
James Lancaster: Yeah.
Dr Juliet Bourke: But now you've got a business which is actually using the plastics and converting them into filament. When did the transition happen?
James Lancaster: It's taken years. It's been a real long journey, and we've had a lot of trial and error. In the early days the plastic that we were making we didn't get the quality right. We've had to work at it to make sure that the product that we were getting was, to be frank, better than new. Really, that's what we're trying to do with the filament machine. So we started our relationship with Veena back in 2018, well late last year we received the machine. It's been a long journey to get to this point because we wanted to make it sure it was right before we could go out there and sell filament. Let's just look at who would want this product that we're creating. That's the first question that we asked ourselves. And if we look at schools in Australia – there are nearly 10,000 schools in Australia. Each one of those schools, more than likely, will have a 3D printer. And from that 3D printer they'll be using one or two spools a week.
Dr Juliet Bourke: Of virgin plastic?
James Lancaster: Of virgin plastic material. So that's nearly 20,000 spools of filament a week that we're using just in schools. Not just the virgin filament at the front end, but what about the waste at the back end? So the children make something, a prototype, that they're working on. It goes into an exhibition and then at the end does the child take it home. Maybe they do. Do they not? Maybe they don't. Where does it end up?
Dr Juliet Bourke: Probably, if there are a few of them, mum tosses them out.
James Lancaster: Right. So we will take that back and we'll reuse it again and again and again and again. So that's the whole point of what we're doing here. We're not just doing a first run of doing the right thing, but it's a continual process of accepting that waste back, putting it back through the technology, the thermal transformation, and creating new filament again with it. And that's why we've gone 3D printer filament rather than pellets for mass manufacturing, because we want to be able to build anything. You know, a lot of people say, "But printers, 3D printers, they're so slow." Well they're getting quicker. Things that take hours to print, in the future will be getting printed in minutes. And that future is not too far away. So the additive manufacturing industry is a booming industry and it's taking off, and if we can be some way part of that early on in our journey, by being able to offer people re-manufactured filament, then we're going to hopefully try and reduce this 12 tonnes a second number that I referred to earlier down, and that's the objective for us.
Dr Juliet Bourke: So where do you see microfactories going? What's the future?
James Lancaster: Well, we've already started taking orders for furniture parts actually that are going into student accommodation. So when a student arrives at his or her new digs, we present them with a catalogue of parts that they can order and we're helping supply those parts from the filament that we're using 3D printed parts. Could be anything simple from a wastepaper basket to a chair or a table. And so we've already started fulfilling the order for... I think 600 wastepaper bins is the first order, and we've started going into production to make those.
Dr Juliet Bourke: Is that UNSW that you're doing it for? Or another uni?
James Lancaster: No, it's not. All universities have got access to this through a company that we've just partnered with.
Dr Juliet Bourke: But you've only got one machine.
James Lancaster: We've only got one machine
Dr Juliet Bourke: How are you gonna do this?
James Lancaster: Yeah, that's right. So we're gonna have to expand.
Dr Juliet Bourke: How much can one machine get through?
James Lancaster: We could produce around 35 spools an hour. So that's 35 kilogram spools.
Dr Juliet Bourke: Right, and I think you said before that with schools they might use two spools...
James Lancaster: Two spools a week.
Dr Juliet Bourke: A week.
James Lancaster: Yeah. And if we just future gaze a little bit, there are telecommunications companies out there that have shop fronts in every high street. The vision there would be, quite simply, we could make all their furniture in their stores from their waste modems. So we could take all those old plastic modems, put them through the filament machine, and make nice tables and chairs for them. And they could be pointing to these tables and chairs and say that was made from a 4G modem.
Dr Juliet Bourke: The business model for you then has two parts to it, right? So it's got you recycling products, and then it's got you creating these new filaments. Is there another aspect to your business model that keeps you afloat?
James Lancaster: Yeah, yeah, absolutely. So we are a professional services company as well. So we have around 150 technicians in Australia and New Zealand who provide professional services to companies. So installation, imaging of devices, delivery. That whole employee satisfaction piece. It's our job to really enable our customers to achieve their business outcomes and goals. So if we can help do that through making sure when a new employee starts at the organisation, he or she can open that device and it's got the company software already pre installed, it's all ready to go, and there's zero touch for the company to get involved, then we're doing our jobs right.
Dr Juliet Bourke: You've got your finger in a number of different pies. Where do you see the future of e-waste recycling?
James Lancaster: We've got one filament machine at the moment, in Lane Cove. This is a global product. We want to take it overseas. First of all, we're going to expand in Australia. So we'll take a filament machine to WA. We'll take one to Canberra, Melbourne, NT, Queensland. We want to make sure we've got microfactories in all states and territories in Australia, first, we'll then look to put one in Auckland in New Zealand. But then really we want to expand into Southeast Asia. That's where we see there being a huge demand for re-manufacturing, and we're already speaking with governments in that region to see if they would like to invest in our technology.
Dr Juliet Bourke: Are there challenges as well? Not just challenges with your brand getting known in the market, but challenges with usage, or challenges because there's a competitor out there, or...?
James Lancaster: For us, the challenge is around servicing the equipment, particularly overseas. We host a couple of the technicians from a particular country or region, we train them over two weeks, and we provide them with ongoing support for the duration of the life of the machine. Now that's... the challenge is obviously different time zones, different hours to work the support. In terms of competition, there's nobody competing in this space as yet. That will change, obviously, but right now this is protected IP that the university owns and we're the master licensee of that technology.
Dr Juliet Bourke: And have you seen other innovative e-waste technologies? What can we look forward to?
James Lancaster: Yeah, so breaking down batteries. There's a huge problem with battery swelling in laptops and transporting those devices by air or by sea. Freight companies won't accept that kind of product anymore because of the risk of explosion. So we're working on designing a transport box that will contain any damage from a lithium battery or faulty lithium battery for transportation. We are looking at extracting various different metals and oxides as well from circuit boards, motherboards, smartphones. That we can reuse those oxides and get them back into the supply chain. And all of these activities are designed to stimulate manufacturing in Australia again. And that's the great thing about this, is it's a sovereign solution. You know, we saw in COVID how dependent we were on countries like China to produce things for us. We couldn't get the goods in time, there was a huge shortage in supply. If we can get the manufacturing back up and running again in our own country then we're not going to have those sorts of problems in the future.
Barney Tan: So James' business model, with Renew IT, is a prime example of what is called the 'circular economy'.
Dr Juliet Bourke: That's Barney Tan. the Senior Deputy Dean for Impact and Partnerships at the UNSW Business School. He believes innovation in this e-waste space is on the rise.
Barney Tan: A circular economy is a consumption paradigm and an economic system aimed at eliminating waste and making the most of resources. Instead of the traditional take, make and dispose model, a circular economy emphasises reusing, remanufacturing and recycling products and materials to create a closed-loop system. Renew IT is a prime example of this in action. Instead of simply discarding obsolete IT devices and plastics they repurpose these materials, converting them into valuable 3D printer filament. Companies that embrace circular economy models, they do it because they deliver a dual set of benefits, both environmental and financial. On the environmental side, reducing waste and reusing materials obviously helps to lower carbon footprints, conserve resources and reduce the strain on natural ecosystems. 
But there's also a compelling business case involved. Secular practices often lead to significant cost savings, reduce raw material expenses, and the creation of new revenue streams from recycled products. This model promotes financial sustainability by lowering long-term operational costs and mitigating risks related to resource scarcity. In today's market, where consumers and investors alike are increasingly mindful of sustainability, this is what they demand. So companies that integrate circular economy principles can enhance their brand reputation, drive innovation and, to that end, build more resilient business models. 
While there are benefits to a circular economy, there are also certain challenges. Building sustainable supply chains is crucial for any circular economy initiative. It starts with establishing strong partnerships with suppliers who share your commitment to sustainability, and companies must implement systems for tracking materials throughout the product life cycle. For example, by diversifying supplies and incorporating local sourcing, where possible, a company can reduce its vulnerability to global supply shocks like what we saw during the COVID crisis. Investing in technology for real-time monitoring and data analytics can also help businesses anticipate potential issues and respond quickly. 
Now in the context of Renew IT, this means not only ensuring a steady flow of e-waste materials, but also creating efficient processes to convert those materials into usable products, all the while maintaining high quality and minimising environmental impact. There are also, obviously, a number of other challenges, especially in terms of transnational circular economy-type business models. One big hurdle would be the upfront investments required to redesign your processes, products and supply chains, because traditional systems are often built around linear models. So shifting to a circular framework demands changes in technology infrastructure and even mindset. And especially in the transnational context, there's the big issue of regulatory support. You need to consider existing laws and standards which may not yet be optimised for secular practices, which makes compliance and standardisation all the more challenging. And of course, you also have to think about consumer behaviour and market acceptance, which can differ across geographic boundaries. They can be barriers if people aren't fully aware or committed to sustainable practices. One commonly cited, standout example is Unilever. 
Unilever has been integrating circular economy principles across its operations on a global level. They focus on designing products and packaging that are reusable, recyclable or compostable, and they actively incorporate recycled materials into their production processes. Effectively, their approach demonstrates that with these global circular economy practices you need to build an entire system that is centered on not just reducing waste but also creating cost efficiencies to drive innovation. You need to invest right from the beginning in sustainable sourcing and also recycling infrastructures, and in doing so, Unilever has managed to align its environmental goals with actually strong financial performance. Their comprehensive strategy sets a benchmark for other transnational companies, showing that sustainability and profitability can, in fact, go hand in hand.
Dr Juliet Bourke: What are the other sustainability measures companies should be looking at right now? Carbon offsetting seems to be one that we hear quite a lot about. What are your views on that?
James Lancaster: It's like having a swear jar on the table, isn't it, and still behaving poorly. But "Oops, we'll just put $1 in the jar, and, you know, we'll plant a tree, or we'll do something makes us feel good." You know, sustainability has become about feeling good. You know, making people feel as though we're doing the right thing, or that I'm doing the right thing or you're doing the right thing.
Dr Juliet Bourke: So if carbon offsetting isn't the best solution, what should we be thinking about?
James Lancaster: It's about behavioural change. You know, it's really changed behaviour. And also sometimes, you know, you have to get your procurement team in line with your sustainability team. They're all driven on different KPIs. So the procurement team are out there procuring products to use inside their company, purely driven by dollar, and ultimately because of that, they'll be receiving a product that is not doing its best work for the environment. Now, if the sustainability team were in line with the procurement team you're going to have a different outcome. And that's the challenge that you've got across the whole of corporate Australia.
Dr Juliet Bourke: What about small business? What can they do?
James Lancaster: Well, small business is a little bit of an easier one. Again, you can control, you know, if you've got a business with 10 employees or less, you can control their habits a lot more. In terms of waste, you really need to speak to council a lot more and find out, ask more questions. What's happening to this? Where does it go? If you're using, you know, companies... I won't name any companies, but companies that come around and pick up your recycling at work, ask if you can visit the facility and see what happens. What's the process look like? I used to ask the same companies "What happens to my phone? If I give you my phone, what does the process look like? Can I come and have a look?" And of course, "No, you can't." Nine times out of 10, people... and this is rife in our industry, goods that are meant to be disposed of as well, companies actually resell them on when they shouldn't. They should actually be disposed of.
Dr Juliet Bourke: And why shouldn't they be reselling?
James Lancaster: Certain customers, whether it's Ministry of Defense or it could be police, you know, they'll have a specific mandate that certain items will actually need to be disposed of, and they don't want to see them back in the market again. But businesses in the past that I know of have done the wrong thing and resold these items. But then, you know, the alternative for a lot of these items is they get shredded. So once we start shredding equipment as well, we start cross-contaminating the metals and it makes it a lot harder to reuse those metals again.
Dr Juliet Bourke: So if you were advising a small business just one thing they could do - not just go and speak to council and trace the line of, you know, here's my product to here being recycled. What would that one thing be to make sure that they're treating their e-waste appropriately?
James Lancaster: I would make sure you've got a relationship with an ITAD organisation and an ITAD organisation that's fully accredited.
Dr Juliet Bourke: An ITAD organisation?
James Lancaster: Yeah, Information Technology Asset Disposition.
Dr Juliet Bourke: Nice.
James Lancaster: Yeah. So that describes, really, the activity that we do on a day-to-day basis, and that's taking back that old equipment, making sure that it doesn't end up in landfill. Either it gets reused or it gets upcycled. So every business out there, small or large, should have a relationship with an ITAD ... Just make sure you can follow the downstream process. Ask questions about the downstream process. Not everything that you dispose of will be reused, so ask the questions – what happens to the printers that you're not going to sell? Can you give me some guarantees that that won't end up in landfill?
Dr Juliet Bourke: So are businesses potentially leaving money on the table when they're not thinking about e-waste?
James Lancaster: Yeah, absolutely. Particularly with a lot of equipment that comes out of data centres as well. The industry that we operate in has the capability, not just Renew IT but other ITAD as well, has the capability to turn a lot of that equipment into i-value, and if you're working directly with an ITAD organisation, then there's a good chance that you're going to get a strong return on that equipment when it comes out of the environment.
Dr Juliet Bourke: So what are the motivations for people to pick up the phone to their ITAD? They're potentially going to make money other things as well?
James Lancaster: I think a lot of this comes down to value in your own organisation and making sure that what you're putting on your annual report is the right thing, and isn't just lip service. Having your responsible backend downstream policy on your waste is exactly what stakeholders and shareholders need in an organisation that they invested in. This isn't going away. In fact, you know, the problem is only going to get worse, particularly in a certain country with the return of the plastic straws, you know. Where do you think all this goes? Yes, the inconvenience of a paper straw, I get it. But where do you think all these plastic straws will end up again, you know? Back in our oceans, and the microplastic problem just gets bigger and bigger and bigger. So me, personally, I'd like to try and minimise the amount of microplastics that are in my body, and if I can do that by just making some simple tweaks to the way we operate as an organisation, then I'm all for it.
Dr Juliet Bourke: What are other companies that you look to? And they could be their own individual company how they treat e-waste or another founder company that you admire.
James Lancaster: Companies out there that are doing the right thing that I'm really impressed with, let's just take one example of Prada. You know, we look at textiles, everybody knows textile industry is a huge polluter. Fast fashion was there 190,000 garments being manufactured every minute in the world, and Prada their signature nylon products are now being remade from old nylon. So they're now not selling new nylon, virgin nylon materials, it's 're-nylon'. And just to think about that process of what they must go through, the additional work that they must go through to get that end product, but not pass those costs on to the consumer, is phenomenal. So I really admire what they're doing with their 're-nylon'.
Dr Juliet Bourke: Thanks to James Lancaster for joining us on this episode. The Business Of is brought to you by the University of New South Wales Business School, produced with Deadset Studios. 
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