Plastics: Redefining Single-Use
Plastics: Redefining Single-Use was a multidisciplinary research project. With £1 million from UKRI we created a team of world-class experts to redefine single-use plastic. Many members and themes from this project went into Many Happy Returns.
Single-use plastic is a waste of limited natural resources. But currently health-care, industry and agriculture all rely on it. Redefining single-use plastic is a tough problem that needs to be tackled from many angles.
This research group worked across disciplines to explore novel solutions.
You can read about the team, outputs and progress below.
Watch this short video to find out more.
Goals: Buy the product but rent the packaging
Plastics: Redefining Single-Use will challenge the perceived wisdom of a throw-away culture of degradable plastics. Our research focuses on three types of plastic use:
Agriculture: a surprising amount of single-use plastic is used on farms and in agriculture. Are there more efficient and economic alternatives?
Medicine: single-use plastic is currently vital within medicine, we want to find ways to reduce this.
Recycling vs. reusable packaging: some materials on the market as alternatives to single-use plastic might not actually be better for the environment. We want to create alternatives that have been through rigorous analysis to make sure they are more sustainable.
We will examine how single-use plastics are currently used and understood in these 3 areas. Materials selection and production will be analysed with a view to balancing benefits (e.g. product protection) against the current fate of plastics (e.g. landfill, recycling, pollution). Through life cycle analysis we will avoid unintended consequences. For example, solving a problem at one end of the plastic life cycle only to have it pop up elsewhere.
A team of multidisciplinary experts
Led by Grantham Centre experts Anthony Ryan and Rachael Rothman, the ethos of Plastics: Redefining Single-Use is that truly creative and novel ideas occur when experts from different disciplines work together.
As such we have created a multidisciplinary team of over 40 chemists, biologists, psychologists, dentists, engineers, social scientists, geographers, and politics and language experts. They work with an equally diverse group of stakeholders from business (global and local) and policy.
You can read more about the team here.
Reducing single-use plastic milk bottles in university cafes
A new Grantham Centre project aims to drastically reduce single-use plastic in The University of Sheffield cafes.
Our Cow Molly - a local dairy that supplies all The University of Sheffield cafes with their milk - is partnering with the Grantham Centre to create a new milk delivery system between farm and cafe.
If successful, this project could revolutionise milk supply - not only at university cafes, but across the country.
Many Happy Returns for plastic packaging
We're delighted that our work on reducing plastic waste can continue now that UKRI have given us £1 million for Many Happy Returns. This money will fund research into enabling reusable packaging systems. Many Happy Returns brings together many of the team members from Plastics: Redefining Single-Use to create a multidisciplinary group.