UM Circular Economy Living Labs

UM Circular Economy Living Labs

In general, Circular Economy (CE) keeps materials, products, and services at their highest utility and value, in circulation for as long as possible. A CE model reduces material use, redesign materials, products, and services to be less resource intensive and recaptures ‘waste’ as a resource to generate new materials, products and even services. Enabling CE is also an urgent mitigation and adaptation measure to address the climate crisis.

It is the vision of UMSDC to enhance CE within the Universiti Malaya campus by proactively addressing the impact of material flow on campus and our immediate communities. With the track record of the pioneer UM Living Lab model – UM Zero Waste Campaign (UMZWC) since its establishment in 2009 - the UM Circular Economy Living Labs Grant will be introduced as a transformative action research intervention to create a more integrated, inclusive and low carbon campus waste management system in UM. This will then lead to the enhancement of circular economy ecosystem in the UM campus and beyond.

UM Circular Economy Concepts include the following, but not limited to:
● Eliminate waste and pollution
● Supply chain management
● Re-use and upcycling
● Recycling in an environmentally feasible manner
● Utilizing feasible and innovative technologies
● Retain and prolong material and product circulation
● Public awareness and engagement
● Best practices and policy recommendation on circular economy

Circular economy intervention is an important strategy for mitigating climate change and materials recovery while also contributing to cost-effective natural resource optimization. UMSDC believes that the Circular Economy, when designed in a thoughtful and inclusive manner, has promising potential to protect the environment, enhance economic performance, and elevate social justice especially in benefitting the vulnerable groups.

 

Source: Ellen MacArthur Foundation - Circular economy systems diagram (February 2019)
 

UM Circular Economy Living Labs Leaders:
Cycle 1 2022/2023

• LL2022CE001 - Assoc. Prof. Dr. Noor Zalina Mahmood (Faculty of Science UM) THE RELEVANCE OF A SUSTAINABLE FOOD WASTE SEPARATION AT SOURCE SYSTEM AT UNIVERSITI MALAYA CAFETERIA FOR CIRCULAR ECONOMY INITIATIVE IN CAMPUS
   
• LL2022CE002 - Dr. Onn Chiu Chuen (Faculty of Engineering UM) SUSTAINABLE SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT MODEL IN UNIVERSITI MALAYA CAMPUS: ZERO WASTE CAMPAIGN 2.0
   
• LL2022CE003 - Dr. Zati Hakim Azizul Hasan (Faculty of Computer Science and Information Technology UM) GOGREEN! AN INTEGRATED WASTE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM TOWARDS REDUCE. REUSE, RECYCLE (3R) COMMUNITY ADOPTION