It’s not just consumers who need to change their attitudes and behaviours around plastics.

Packaging manufacturers and retailers need to take action too.

Professor Linda Hendry makes a return visit to the podcast, explaining how her work on supply chains unites her interests in plastics as part of the Plastic Packaging in People’s Lives (PPiPL) project and on modern slavery.

We look at how food producers, packaging manufacturers and retailers decide how to package and transport food before it reaches consumers; the role of government and regulation when it comes to packaging design and redesign – and the difficulties companies have in using packaging that meets these requirements; and how consumer attitudes affect how companies operate.

Linda outlines the strategies businesses can apply to cut the plastic packaging and waste they produce, and explains the ‘regrettable substitute’ concept as she tells us why alternatives are not always better.

We cover important issues of the day: Does Jan have a crisp addiction problem? Does Paul give his children too many crisps? Did Linda mislead her kids about how many crisps they had in the house? And how does this all fit in with packaging decisions?

Plus, does Linda – or her domestic engineer – know whether the Ancient Egyptians wrapped mummies in plastic? Is there a serial killer on the PPiPL project? And how do the Minnesota Vikings defensive line of the 1970s fit into it all?

Read more about the seven steps towards sustainable packaging innovation: https://doc.your-brochure-online.co.uk/Lancaster-University_FiftyFourDegrees_Issue_21/10/

And read the PPiPL project’s white paper on packaging here: https://zenodo.org/records/10839787

Episode Transcript