The law is back in town! How can you legislate for plastic pollution all around the world? Is it possible to get close to 200 countries to agree on the way forward? What will such a treaty include?

Dr Alexandra Harrington is an environmental law specialist in Lancaster University Law School who has been part of the negotiations for a proposed international plastics treaty as a UN-accredited observer. It has not been straightforward – hence the lack of an agreement so far.

She takes us behind the scenes on negotiations that have taken place around the world – even if all she ever gets to see are the never-ending corridors of conference centres – and explains why there is the need for a treaty around plastic pollution. And while it may seem to be taking a long time to reach a conclusion, it has been quite speedy compared to similar agreements.

Discover how the plastics situation compares to mercury regulations and chemicals frameworks, how countries have banded together to wield their mass influence, and the unexpected connection between this issue and the effects of climate change for low-lying and island nations.

And is it possible to say Alex’s title of Chair of the International Union for Conservation of Nature World Commission on Environmental Law Agreement on Plastic Pollution Taskforce without taking a breath?

Plus, is there more to Busan than zombies and trains?

Discover more about Alex’s work here: https://www.lancaster.ac.uk/law/people/alexandra-harrington

Episode Transcript

There are around 144,000 people in the district of Lancaster – from the city itself to Morecambe, the villages and rural areas beyond. They produced 8,998 tons of household recycling in 2023.

So, why do these residents only recycle 36% of their plastics? What could you as a resident do to improve your habits? And what happens to the plastic that is recycled when the council collects it?

It’s time to bring an end to our investigation of the Plastic Packaging in People’s Lives project – and we bring it all back home.

Carly Sparks, Lancaster City Council’s Public Realm Improvement Lead, joins us to talk about their involvement in PPiPL as a waste collection authority.

We look at the reasons different councils have different rules for recycling collections, how PPiPL has helped Lancaster City Council find ways to encourage residents to recycle more and in the right way, what can be done to avoid confusion over what can and cannot be recycled, and whether Jan is a conscientious recycler. Could she even become an exemplar – or a pariah – in her community?

Plus, the importance of Sort, Wash and Squash. And why does Jan know so much about New Zealand soap operas?

Read more about Lancaster City Council’s involvement with PPiPL here: https://doc.your-brochure-online.co.uk/Lancaster-University_FiftyFourDegrees_Issue_21/22/

And find out more about the Wash and Squash it campaign from the council here: https://www.lancaster.gov.uk/bins-recycling/recycling/recycling-boxes

Episode Transcript

Do you know what happens to your plastic recycling after your bins are emptied?

As we continue our journey through the plastics pipeline, we encounter bin juice and the Mafia.

Lancaster University’s Dr Clare Mumford and the Chartered Institution of Wastes Management (CIWM)’s Richard Hudson take the Plastic Packaging in People’s Lives project to the final stage of its process – how plastic waste is dealt with.

It turns out plastic is not very sociable – one type does not get along with another – and this just adds to the complications when it comes to recycling.

We talk about the importance of being able to predict how much waste people are going to produce; the post-Christmas purple polypropylene surge; the need to properly sorting your plastics before recycling, and how to avoid recycling contamination; why moving away from plastics does not automatically mean greater sustainability; and public pessimism over what happens to their recycling.

Discover the wonderfully named Association of Cleansing Superintendents of Great Britain and how it grew to have 17,000 members in its current iteration; cringe at the perils of bin juice; and feel the tension rise when Paul’s jokes about the waste management industry being a front for organised crime turn out to be closer to the truth than he imagined.

Learn more about plastic packaging and how it can be processed in the Fifty Four Degrees article here: https://doc.your-brochure-online.co.uk/Lancaster-University_FiftyFourDegrees_Issue_21/14/

And read the PPiPL white paper, Waste Matters, here: https://zenodo.org/records/10839761

Episode Transcript

Listening to this episode can change your shopping habits!

Do supermarkets care about the planet? What actions are they taking to reduce waste? How are they changing their packaging to address the plastics problem?

The team hit the road to speak with Katie Gwynne and Jane Routh, from Plastic Packaging in People’s Lives project partners Booths, about how the supermarket chain thinks and acts around plastic packaging, and how they are looking to change their own behaviours and those of their customers.

With an ethos of ‘being the good grocers’ discover how Booths are looking to do the right thing on plastic packaging – both for their own products, and for those of their suppliers.

Discover how they have been involved with PPiPL, what they have learned from the project – and their customers, the benefits of working with the other organisations involved, how supermarkets can use their collective influence to instigate change, the shift in attitudes across the industry towards sustainability, and what comes next for them.

And do you know which is older – Booths or New Zealand? Paul makes the common mistake of thinking of post-colonial New Zealand, not when people first came to Aotearoa (the indigenous name for what became New Zealand). History is often complex. Pliny the Elder would approve of the conversation.

Read more about Booths’ involvement in the PPiPL project here: https://doc.your-brochure-online.co.uk/Lancaster-University_FiftyFourDegrees_Issue_21/26/

And see their sustainability efforts here: https://www.booths.co.uk/sustainability/

Episode Transcript

How do you treat plastic waste in your home? Are you a good consumer? A good recycler or a wishcycler? And is recycling the first thing you see when you open the door to your house?

Professors Alex Skandalis and James Cronin bring their marketing and consumer culture expertise to the Plastic Packaging in People’s Lives project – and to the podcast – to analyse consumer behaviours around plastic. But are they just making up all of the language and concepts they mention?

From the Aztecs to the Dark Ages, the Victorians to the present day, we discover plastics have been around our culture for much longer than you might think and go far beyond drinks bottles and food containers.

Discover a shift from plastic as an environmental saviour to a major sustainability problem, from a luxury item to something almost invisible in its ubiquity, and how the material is intrinsic to our modern-day society.

See how the PPiPL team have looked at household behaviours – from their shopping habits to their plastic disposal routines – how actions around recycling at home and at work affect each other; and how individual choices and behaviours are shaped by many factors around you.

And we find out the answer to the key question about whether Ancient Egyptians used plastics to wrap their mummies.

Read more about consumer attitudes and behaviours towards plastics here: https://doc.your-brochure-online.co.uk/Lancaster-University_FiftyFourDegrees_Issue_21/18/

And read the PPiPL white paper on household recycling here: https://zenodo.org/records/10839795

Episode Transcript

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

“I just want to say one word to you. Just one word… plastics.”

We don’t have Dustin Hoffman, but we do have a journey into a fascinating world as we take a deep dive into the Plastic Packaging in People’s Lives (PPiPL) project.

Dr Alison Stowell and Professor Maria Piacentini join us as we discover how consumers think and behave when it comes to plastic food packaging, and how PPiPL hopes to change the attitude-behaviour gap.

Discover how the project researchers have engaged with organisations from supermarkets to local government, SMEs to waste management firms, to gain a big picture of attitudes and actions, and make a real-world impact.

What happens in your household when it comes to plastics recycling? Do you say you’re going to do one thing, but then do another? Do you make a concerted effort to buy packaging that can be recycled – or even packaging that is not made from plastic?

There is so much to talk about, and many questions for all of us to consider when it comes to our usage of plastics – including how Nonna can swap out plastic for tea towels to bring a famous family pizza all the way from Glasgow to Lancaster.

And how many words are in the sentence ‘It’s complex’?

Find out more about the PPiPL project here: https://www.lancaster.ac.uk/ppipl/

And read more from the PPiPL team here: https://doc.your-brochure-online.co.uk/Lancaster-University_FiftyFourDegrees_Issue_21/

Episode Transcript

Take a moment to consider what your local area. Do you feel connected to it? Does it feel like a real home?

Morecambe Bay is a natural marvel. Stretching from Fleetwood in the south to Barrow-in-Furness in the north, it encompasses Lancaster, Morecambe, and many small towns and villages along the Lancashire and Cumbria coastlines.

And Paul feels right at home as he and Jan welcome Carys Nelkon and Dr Beth Garrett to reveal the wonders of the Morecambe Bay Curriculum to them.

The curriculum involves more than 140 educators across the Bay and is embedded in day-to-day teaching. It uses the wonders of the area and its people and ties them into the National Curriculum. It allows children to develop a love for their home and take a practical interest in its future, and schools and colleges to take a fresh look at how they deliver education to young people.

From birds to beaches, travel to the energy industry, there is a lot to cover.

Discover why Morecambe Bay is such an important place, what brings its communities – and its schools and educators – together, how the Eden Project Morecambe has provided a spark to reinvigorate the area and develop the curriculum, and how Lancaster’s role as a civic university fits in.

Find out more about the Morecambe Bay Curriculum here: https://www.lancaster.ac.uk/morecambe-bay-curriculum/

And read about the Beach Schools Network here: https://www.forestschools.com/pages/beach-schools

And as a bonus, here is a starting point for finding out more about Patrick Geddes: https://camera-obscura.co.uk/article/patrick-geddes