Robin Branson BSc (Hons)(Imp Coll, U. London), MBA (UNSW)

PhD Candidate

Madsen Building (F09), Room 434
Phone: +61 2 9427 0614
Fax: +61 2 9427 1984
Email:

Supervisor
Dr Phil McManus

Research

Research Working Title: Assessment procedures for the sustainable reuse of industrial waste.

Robin established a company called Qubator in 1987 to finance and manage the pre-commercial development of industrial technology. Within two years the company had begun finding ways to use waste that was being dumped by industrial organisations. Qubator has specialised in that business ever since.

Robin began this research project at the University of Queensland in 2005 as an extension of his business experience but in an academic context relating to industrial ecology, industrial symbiosis and sustainability. His work is based on two premises: the first is that since it costs money to dump industrial waste (legally), there is potential to reduce the costs of disposal, or even to profit from some inherent value, of waste for which there is a destiny other than dumping. The second premise is that if management knew how to exploit this potential they would be strongly disinclined to dump their waste. If nothing else, that is probably good for the biosphere.

An objective of the research is to test the hypothesis that suitably trained managers of industrial organisations can successful find uses for the waste they generate by applying a particular set of procedures. In doing so, they can significantly enhance the organisation’s profitability as a result of not dumping material unnecessarily.

Robin transferred to the School of Geoscience at Sydney University in November 2006 and expanded the scope of his research to include the issues of ‘beyond compliance’, the implications of Life Cycle analysis, the definition of industrial waste and the effect of Government Regulations that control its disposal.

At the time of writing (June 2007) a set of procedures has been written and work has begun on recruiting organisations to participate in ‘field trials’. These are expected to be completed by the end of 2008 and the thesis completed by the end of 2010.