Basically we've had 50 years of cultural training to throw things away that we now have to undo.” “One of the biggest hurdles to overcome around the problem is all of the regulations around the use of plastics, particularly in medical consumables such as devices and Personal Protective Equipment, which were written when single use plastic was at its cheapest and doesn’t consider what would happen to it after it’s useful life. It's a wicked problem that needs a holistic approach. This is something that needs policy and business models to come together and create a broad multidisciplinary mix. The scientists - including LaShanda Korley, Distinguished Professor of Materials Science and Engineering and Thomas Epps III, Allan & Myra Ferguson Distinguished Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering from the University of Delaware and Brett Helms from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California - join Professor Tony Ryan, Director of the University of Sheffield Grantham Centre for Sustainable Futures - to highlight how the pandemic has greatly contributed to the consumption of plastic, adding to the recent demand of single use plastics, including medical packaging, masks and gloves.Ĭo-author and Professor of Physical Chemistry at the University of Sheffield, Tony Ryan, said: “This paper is essentially a call to arms to other scientists in this area to put their intellectual power behind potential solutions to the plastic problem. Not all forms of which are currently recyclable and of the ones that are, finding methods to do this that can provide reusable plastic material for use in products again is still limited. This creates massive demand on the production of ‘virgin’ polymer plastic material. The publication aims to encourage those working in research and development to take action to combat the increasing problem of plastic waste that the human consumption, and demand for convenience is creating and to use their expertise to develop solutions to the problem which is contributing heavily to the environmental damage of the planet.įollowing the advent of cheap and available plastics in the 20th century, use of the resource has exploded with many forms of packaging using multiple forms of plastics. Scientists from the Universities of Sheffield and Delaware emphasise the importance of adopting multiple sustainable methods to combat the surge in plastic waste through recycling, upcycling and other complementary routes to minimise energy, cost and environmental impacts in ‘ Toward polymer upcycling–adding value and tackling circularity’. Scientists calling for more sustainable approaches to address the massive global challenges faced by plastic waste have published a call to action today in Science. Three quarters of all plastic material is currently not recycled and ends up in landfill or the oceans.Scientists advise plastic lifecycle should be considered at the design stage to lessen impact of waste.Scale of problem has been exacerbated by the pandemic, which saw mass consumption of plastics, impacting the immediate future of our environment.
Worldwide Universities Network at Sheffield.Research centres, institutes and networks.Coronavirus: our research and innovation.
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