Leaving a career in financial services Jane Pearce was looking to be in at the beginning of something game-changing. Co-founding Rookwood Operations in Somerset with two others, she wanted recovery and reuse to be at the heart of their business.
Their work, she says, “was right in front of us.” It was plain to see the way that phosphates used in farming fertilisers run off into rivers, creating algal blooms that kills fish and marine life. “Phosphorus is considered the second most critical macronutrient for sustaining life,” she explains “and there’s an excess of it in the wrong place. It was an opportunity for true circularity.”
They created Phosphate Removal Material. Made from natural materials, it absorbs phosphates from water and can then be put on fields as a soil…
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The Simple Things (Digital) - 1 Issue, April 2025