The UK is resource-rich in nature’s treasure trove of biological materials much of which is underutilised, undervalued and, by not taking a whole systems approach, even goes unrecognised. We propose to investigate the concept of agile biorefineries that are feedstock flexible, infrastructure flexible and with physical size that enables several low-cost localised biorefineries to be feasible, hence spreading the benefits across location, and including an open science approach that encourages local makers to join with global supply chains. In this feasibility study we seek to map value flows through these novel configurations to identify key parameters of a successful agile biorefining system. Given the increasing social demands and ecological challenges, a generation of new business models is emerging that provide a logic for value creation based on principles encompassing equitable value exchange.

An enterprise that adopts a restorative approach will proactively move the boundary of what it is taking into account and begins to take responsibility not only for its internal systems but also for the larger social and natural systems. Central to the Agile Biorefinery concept is having the ability to deal with a variety of biomass input resource flows, processing in an agile way, whilst connecting to industry, to consumers and to citizen scientists and entrepreneurs. We have no examples of agile biorefineries globally and this proposal seeks to become a first step towards making the UK the global leader in such technology. The UK has the potential to pioneer agile biorefining, whereby multiple smaller biorefineries can co-operate to valorise farm, food and textile wastes using known technologies in novel configurations.