Ben Gibbons and his colleagues at Circular11 are developing ways to add value to hard-to-recycle light plastics. They take packaging, and turn it into a lumber-equivalent, suitable for long term use as post and rail fencing. But to maintain tight loops of circularity, they needed to understand the supply chain they were targeting.

National Highways designed a programme to help innovators like Circular11 scale their ideas. The sustainable plastic re-use business, alongside three other start-ups, went all the way through to the final phase—live trials on the UK’s strategic roads network—of this Acceleration Low Carbon Innovation programme, organised with the help of the Connected Places Catapult.

The accelerator was awarded Gold Champion in the Net Zero category of the Engineering Matters Awards. In this episode, we learn about the challenges facing SMEs as they try to enter the complex and highly regulated roadbuilding sector. We hear how the programme was designed to bring together SMEs, established contractors, and roadbuilding experts, helping scale sustainable innovations, in a way that is ripe for emulation by other major clients.

Entry for the 2026 Engineering Matters Awards is now open.

Guests

Melissa Giusti, Principal Innovation Advisor, National Highways

Ben Gibbons, CEO, Circular11