Open:Data:Night - Plastics: from vilified to valued resource

Recorded 29 March 2022, as part of our monthly Open:Data:Night events.

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Since Blue Planet II, plastic packaging and single-use plastics have made their way up the list of environmental challenges that people want tackling.

Some items have already been banned, more restrictions have been proposed, and there’s growing pressure from consumers for brands and retailers to switch to other materials.

We may all agree that plastics in our oceans and other environments are a significant problem. But plastics also has a positive part to play in areas like reducing food waste and protecting our health.

So how do we make the most of the good and minimise the bad?

Right now in the UK, a raft of measures are being considered that will cause a huge shift across the entire packaging industry – and all those connected to it. These include a plastics tax, changes to producer-responsibility rules and improvements to local council recycling.

Many of these will rely on good quality data – but does it exist – and how can it help?

In this event, our speakers shed light on the ways that data can help us all lessen the negative impact of plastics – by making packaging more sustainable, increasing recycling rates and highlighting where gaps in services exist.

Speakers:

Professor Michael Shaver – Director of Sustainable Futures, Director of Sustainable Materials Innovation Hub, Professor of Polymer Science, Henry Royce Institute, University of Manchester.

Jane Skelton – Commercial Manager, OPRL, the UK’s most widely recognised recycling label scheme for packaging.

Jamie Dumayne – PhD candidate, University of Lancaster, and Data Research Intern at Your Dsposal.

Debbie Clarke and Corrina O'Brien – from Manchester's worker-owned Unicorn Grocery.