Lead: Professor Arthur Garforth, Professor of Catalysis, Honorary Head of Teaching

Hospitals necessarily generate waste to maintain hygiene, but much of their waste is simply incinerated (costing up to £1,000/te) when some of this waste could be recycled and valuable polymers such as PVC, PP and PE could be captured and reused.

Our research quantifies the material flow through a hospital and identifies where plastic appears in waste and could be captured and reused. We are also developing novel ways of separating and recycling the plastic polymers captured from hospital waste by using ionic liquids and catalytic depolymerisation.

Together, we can fully assess the life cycle of the material procurement, use and disposal to minimise cost and environmental impact.

Lead: Professor Michael Shaver, Professor of Polymer Science

Recycling plastic is a confusing process for consumers, not least because of the different types of plastic used in everyday packaging, but also due to difference in local authority collections and processing abilities.

We are tackling our waste management practices by changing the way we sort plastics. Instead of focusing on the chemical functionality of the backbone of the plastics, we are looking to implement a hierarchy of materials that is much easier to follow and implement. This will not only make it easier for local authorities to recycle plastics but it will eliminate the confusion for the consumer when recycling products.

Drawing on stakeholder expertise across the supply chain, we are mapping the current complexities of our plastic waste management systems. We pinpoint where changes to these systems need to be made and where value can be derived. We have linked together our partners’ expertise with consumer practice to inform policy frameworks which will change the UK waste management infrastructures of tomorrow.

Lead: Professor James Evans, Professor of Human Geography

The fashion industry is a large producer of plastic and plasticised materials, many of which are difficult to recycle. Our work takes a closer look at how we can reduce the amount of plastics used in fashion, and how we can reclaim and reuse plasticised textiles.

We are investigating how we can support a more circular fashion industry by partnering with fashion retailers to collect and supply relevant polyester waste, and conducting a chemical recycling process to explore alternative recycling solutions.

This research combined with our industry partnerships will help to identify waste issues, provide solutions for recycling and reclaiming plastic from fashion, and improving commercial practices to minimise waste and improve environmental sustainability.

Lead: Professor Adisa Azapagic, Professor of Sustainable Chemical Engineering

Many of the plastics used in food packaging are invisible; films, heat seals and adhesives are all widely used but are often not recyclable. They present a real and difficult to address threat to our environment and alternative solutions must be found if we are to curb our plastic use. Our research focuses on developing single-component, degradable packaging so that these invisible plastics are no longer needed.

In the future, food packaging would be made from a few simple materials that don’t need invisible plastics to hold them together. All of the materials would be easily recyclable and their environmental impact would be reduced. Our work is focused on producing novel, degradable plastic materials that can be made into single-component packaging for food. Throughout our research we continually test these new materials to assess their effectiveness in balance with the cost of production, as well as carrying out thorough environmental analysis to understand their impact on the world.

Our research has progressed far enough that we are able to apply our new materials in packaging applications. These live applications combined with our laboratory experimental results help guide our work and future experiments to test new material performance against the current leading materials.

Lead: Professor Paul Mativenga, Chair in Multiscale and Sustainable Manufacturing

Awareness of microplastics in our seas and river systems is increasing, as is our knowledge and understanding of the impact these invisible particles are having on our wildlife and ecological systems. Our research focuses on understanding the problems posed by microplastics and how we can combat them.

We aim to understand the challenge that invisible plastic particles pose to us and our environment and we are working to develop solutions, such as filtration systems, to keep our aquatic environments clean.

We use the latest technology to characterise and measure invisible particles and nanoscale plastic in tap and bottled water in our urban environments, as well as in large-scale water systems. We have engaged with stakeholder partners and identified opportunities for engagement with water companies and retailers to expand our exploration of water sources, bottled water shelf life, and water sourcing and delivery systems.

Lead: Dr Alison Browne, Senior Lecturer in Geography

Our use of plastics is driving significant change in our environment, and not necessarily for the better. We study our relationship with plastic and how polymer and microplastic flows are linked with domestic laundry, toilet waste, and personal hygiene practices.

We will take a transdisciplinary approach to this challenge, integrating insights from social, material and textile sciences and engineering to assess the effects of household practices on polymer flows at local, city, national and global scales. This enables us to identify whole-system strategies for change, grounded in an understanding of the socio-material complexities of polymer flows, whether these be changing technologies (e.g. filtration systems), social norms (e.g. washing cycles), consumer product materialities (e.g. altering polyester weaves), policy (e.g. water/sewerage regulations), or economics (e.g. polymer recovery).

By working with policy makers, NGOs and businesses to identify the problems and challenges that face our water and sanitation systems we aim to inform effective policy and regulation change in the UK and further afield.