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James Lancaster  00:01

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  00:27

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 ºÚÁÏÍø´óÊÂ¼Ç to develop technology that converts e-waste plastic into re-manufactured 3D printer filament.

James Lancaster  00:59

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 can reduce the demand for virgin plastic.

Dr Juliet Bourke  01:22

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

James Lancaster  01:31

And if we just future gaze a little bit, there's 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  02:00

I'm Dr Juliet Bourke, an Adjunct Professor at the School of Management and Governance at the ºÚÁÏÍø´óÊÂ¼Ç 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  02:19

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 a 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  03:11

So what was Renew IT's purpose in the beginning? 

James Lancaster  03:14

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. Multi function 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.Ìý

Dr Juliet Bourke  05:06

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

James Lancaster  05:10

The brains 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.Ìý

Dr Juliet Bourke  06:20

You had a business that was just re-using e-waste products.

James Lancaster  06:26

Yeah.

Dr Juliet Bourke  06:27

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  06:35

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's 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.Ìý

Dr Juliet Bourke  07:35

Of virgin plastic?

James Lancaster  07:36

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  08:01

Probably, if there's a few of them, mum tosses them out.

James Lancaster  08:04

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  09:13

So where do you see microfactories going? What's the future?

James Lancaster  09:17

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 catalog 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 waste paper basket to a chair or a table. And so we've already started fulfilling the order for... I think 600 waste paper bins is the first order, and we've started going into production to make those.

Dr Juliet Bourke  09:52

Is that ºÚÁÏÍø´óÊÂ¼Ç that you're doing it for? Or another uni? 

James Lancaster  09:55

No, it's not. It's all universities have got access to this through a company that we've just partnered with.

Dr Juliet Bourke  10:01

But you've only got one machine.Ìý

James Lancaster  10:03

We've only got one machine 

Dr Juliet Bourke  10:03

How are you gonna do this?

James Lancaster  10:04

Yeah, that's right. So we're gonna have to expand.Ìý

Dr Juliet Bourke  10:06

How much can one machine get through?

James Lancaster  10:08

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

Dr Juliet Bourke  10:15

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

James Lancaster  10:19

Two spools a week.

Dr Juliet Bourke  10:20

A week.Ìý

James Lancaster  10:21

Yeah. And if we just future gaze a little bit, there's 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  10:46

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  10:58

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. So we are a professional services company as well. So we have around 150 technicians in Australia and New Zealand that 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 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  11:40

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

James Lancaster  11:46

We've got one filament machine at the moment, in Lane Cove. This 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.Ìý

Dr Juliet Bourke  12:24

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  12:35

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.Ìý

Dr Juliet Bourke  13:09

And have you seen other innovative e-waste technologies? What can we be looking forward to?

James Lancaster  13:14

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  14:33

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

Dr Juliet Bourke  14:39

That's Barney Tan the Senior Deputy Dean for Impact and Partnerships at the ºÚÁÏÍø´óÊÂ¼Ç Business School. He believes innovation in this e-waste space is on the rise.Ìý

Barney Tan  14:51

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 behavior 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, stand out 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  19:09

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  19:20

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 feel 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  19:41

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

James Lancaster  19:46

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 product to use inside their company, purely driven by dollar, and ultimately because of that, they'll be receiving 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  20:28

What about small business? What can they do? 

James Lancaster  20:30

Well, small business it's 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  21:21

And why shouldn't they be reselling?

James Lancaster  21:23

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  21:58

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  22:13

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

Dr Juliet Bourke  22:20

An ITAD organisation?

James Lancaster  22:21

Yeah, Information Technology Asset Disposition.Ìý

Dr Juliet Bourke  22:24

Nice.

James Lancaster  22:25

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. And somebody that can... 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  23:04

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

James Lancaster  23:09

Yeah, absolutely. Particularly with a lot of equipment that comes out of data centers 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  23:33

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  23:41

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 back end 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.Ìý

Dr Juliet Bourke  23:41

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  24:55

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  25:45

Thanks to James Lancaster for joining us on this episode. If you're interested in learning more about businesses built with sustainability at their core, we have an interview with Banish founder Lottie Dalziel that you might like to listen to next.Ìý

Lottie Dalziel  26:00

So I thought, why not create a platform that teaches people how to live more sustainably, but also connects them with brands and businesses in Australia that are doing the right thing when it comes to sustainability?

Dr Juliet Bourke  26:11

There's a link to that episode in our show notes. 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, .