The Centre for ‘Sustainable Manufacturing and Recycle Technologies (SMART)’ (www.lboro.ac.uk/smart) has been leading the research in footwear circularity during the past two decades. A range of material recycling processes have been experimented and developed to improve the quality of recycled footwear materials, a number of which are now commonplace with many emerging commercial footwear recycling initiatives.
A seminar to learn from companies and technology providers on best practices to successfully implement current digital technologies in food manufacturing and to discuss policy and regulatory challenges to the uptake of such technologies within the UK Food Sector.
View several short videos on SMART's research on water, energy, food waste, and a resource dashboard all aimed at creating more sustainable food manufacturing.
In the UK, consumers throw away a staggering £700 worth of food per family each year, with significant economic, environmental and social costs (UK Government, 2017). In response, this live panel discussion, hosted at Loughborough University on the 12th October 2018, brought together leading figures from farming, retail and policy to discuss the challenges and solutions. Read more about the event and download the free summary report here.
A joint China-UK funding call was attended by Dr Elliot Woolley in China. He also visited Shantou University to give an invited lecture and catch up with SMART alumnus Dr Alessandro Simeone.
The Centre for SMART has contributed to an article in Sourcing Journal titled 'Can Footwear Ever Give Waste the Boot?'
Researchers from the Centre for SMART have successfully completed a feasibility project that proved a novel technology for significant improvement in the efficiency of cleaning processes for the food manufacturing industry.
SMART Contributions to SDM'2017 International Conference on Sustainable Design and Manufacturing held in Bologna, Italy 26-28 April 2017
Professor Shahin Rahimifard will present evidence to the UK House of Commons Science and Technology Committee this coming Wednesday 1 February 2017 - streaming on parliamentlive.tv
Elliot Woolley, Lecturer in Sustainable Manufacturing at Loughborough University and academic member of the Centre for SMART, has started a SMART Conversation with his article on food waste.
Finding a way to eat the food waste which is lost after harvest and along the distribution and consumption chain will help UK Food Security.
SMART researcher Guillermo Garcia-Garcia presented his work at the 14th Global Conference on Sustainable Manufacturing held in Stellenbosch, South Africa
One-third of the world’s food is wasted. The Independent and the Guardian examine the problem of food waste featuring the Centre for SMART's Pantry App.
The Centre for SMART is using artificial intelligence to lower food production costs. Dr Elliot Woolley and Dr Alessandro Simeone have developed a revolutionary intelligent sensor system for more precise cleaning of food manufacturing equipment which has the potential to save £100m each year for the UK food industry.
SMART PhD student Jamie Stone is 1st runner up in photo competition
The Centre for SMART is seeking two PhD students to undertake research as part of the EPSRC funded Centre for Innovative Manufacturing in Food
Tegan Pringle, Michael Barwood and Jamie Stone were interviewed about their research for Bridge magazine - a monthly magazine for English-language students with a readership of about 100 000 students and teachers in the Czech Republic and Slovakia.
SMART researchers envisage collaboration with a large grocery retailer to test their Pantry app which helps consumers minimise food waste by tracking expiry dates and recommending recipes.
The Centre for Sustainable Manufacturing and Recycling Technology (SMART) has developed a Multi Analyte Sensor Kit (MASK) for rapid characterisation of the content of water effluent in manufacturing plants.
A novel footwear recycling process could keep some of the 20 billion pairs of shoes produced globally out of landfill.
Applications are sought for a number of PhD posts within the Centre for Sustainable Manufacturing and Recycling Technologies (SMART) in the Wolfson School of Mechanical, Electrical and Manufacturing Engineering, one of the largest Engineering Schools devoted to this subject area in the UK. Following the award of a substantial grant, the Centre for SMART is building its research activities in sustainable food manufacturing and requires a number of PhD students to work on its ‘Grand Challenge’ projects of Eco-Production of Food, Sustainable Food Supply Chains and Distributed Manufacturing of Food.
The programme for the 2016 Manufacturing Food Futures Conference has been revealed. Networking dinner at Burleigh Court (4 * venue) included in conference fee! Register soon to avoid disappointment - accommodation is limited.
Membership in the International Academy for Production Engineering (CIRP) is limited and based on demonstrated excellence in research. The Centre for SMART is pleased to announce that Dr. Alessandro Simeone has achieved this distinction.
Lego precursors to robots designed by school groups tackle sustainability tasks at the First Lego League.
The annual EPSRC Centre for Innovative Manufacturing in Food Conference will take place Wednesday 23rd March - Thursday 24th March 2016 at the Holywell Park Conference Centre of Loughborough University. Student delegate packages are available.
Our SMART Big Top Tent at the Disruptive Innovation Festival will feature many members of our team presenting their work themed around the concept of 'Immortal Resources'.
Waste is everybody's problem, and Wastecyle is working hard to minimize the impact of Loughborough University waste. SMART members toured this facility to learn more about how this is done.
SMART researcher Guillermo Garcia-Garcia has a new research paper titled A Framework for a More Efficient Approach to Food Waste Management.
Video of the presentation of Professor Shahin Rahimifard speaking at the 4th Annual CIM IS Conference is now available.
SMART researcher Jamie Stone's presentation titled 'Sustainable food manufacturing: a dual approach looking at resilience and waste' at the Processing technologies for the recovery of added value components from food processing waste event of FoodWasteNet held at the University of Reading 16-17 July wins 2nd prize!
Flying the Eco-Factory flag on day two of the EPSRC Centre for Industrial Sustainability Conference held on the 6th and 7th of July, SMART team members presented their research together with industry representatives.
The Centre for SMART has become a part of the Circular Economy Network Map of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation.
ICOT 2015 is this year's international conference about the application of thinking in Education, the Arts, Business and Sports that is taking place in Bilbao, Spain from 29 June - 3 July. Professor Shahin Rahimifard has been invited to participate in a round table event on the topic of Circular Economy and Manufacturing.
The work done by The Centre for SMART on footwear recycling has recently been featured in the Guardian's Sustainable Business section.