Many Happy Returns - Enabling reusable packaging systems

许多快乐的回报 - 实现可重复使用的包装系统

• 批准号: NE/V010638/1
• 负责人: Thomas Webb
• 金额: $ 128.17万
• 依托单位: University of Sheffield
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Research Grant
• 财政年份: 2020
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2020 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=NE%2FV010638%2F1
• 关键词: Many; Happy; Returns; Enabling; reusable

Our current approach to packaging food and other products is not sustainable; being primarily based on single-use plastics that, when disposed of incorrectly, cause significant harm to the environment. Recycling, while clearly a better option than landfill, also has its limitations - e.g., the functional properties of plastics degrade as a result of the recycling process. And reducing consumption is only possible to a certain degree. It is therefore clear that we - that is science, industry, government, and society - need to find ways to enable people to reuse packaging, such that it stays in circulation longer before ending up in the waste stream. The proposed research, led by a multidisciplinary team of scientists working in partnership with key stakeholders, will explore models of reuse and provide the insights needed to enable a wholesale shift toward reuse.Our research will be structured around five work packages (WPs). WP1 will examine the language that people use to describe different types of plastic and actions associated with their reuse / disposal. We will study the extent to which public understanding of plastic and actions is aligned with that of stakeholders (e.g., local authorities, manufacturers), and how language can be used as a tool to promote changes in thinking and behaviour (e.g., by describing materials and actions in different ways). WP2 will look at both historical (e.g., doorstep delivery of milk) and contemporary (e.g., supermarket refill stations) models of reuse, as well as standardised models of packaging (e.g., tin cans) to identify what role reuse might play in the future and what factors might facilitate and/or impede this. WP3 will identify what people might be willing to reuse, when, and why. We will also consider the point at which deterioration in materials and / or potential contamination makes reuse unacceptable; and, critically, how such decisions might be shifted in an effort to promote (appropriate) reuse. WP4 will use life cycle assessment to identify the environmental impacts of a range of different reuse models in a range of different contexts; thereby providing the data needed to accurately determine which model of reuse is "best". Finally, WP5 will investigate the suitability of current and emerging polymers, and other materials for reusable packaging by simulating repeated washing and potential contamination by ingredients in food, personal care, and household products.Together, the outputs of the proposed research will be an understanding, based on robust scientific data, of when and how reuse models for plastic packaging make good sense. For example, our research may lay the groundwork for promoting a societal-shift in thinking toward buying the product, but renting the packaging. Our approach recognises that a new system that prioritises reuse, and then recycling, of durable materials requires a step change in behaviour and that truly creative and novel ideas occur at the interfaces between disciplines, when different perspectives are brought together in an open and 'safe' environment. The applicants have demonstrated their ability to work together as a multidisciplinary team alongside key stakeholders as in an on-going single use plastics project. The present proposal describes the research needed to translate this expertise and initial ideas into scientifically rigorous and joined up data that can provide the basis for delivering reuse as a national (and potentially international) vision; thereby, preventing plastic from entering the environment and stimulating more sustainable business, supply chain, and economic models.

我们目前包装食品和其他产品的方法是不可持续的;主要基于一次性塑料，如果处理不当，会对环境造成重大危害。回收，虽然显然是一个比填埋更好的选择，也有其局限性-例如，塑料的功能特性由于回收过程而降低。减少消费只能在一定程度上实现。因此，很明显，我们-科学，工业，政府和社会-需要找到方法，使人们能够重复使用包装，使其在循环中停留更长的时间，然后才最终成为废物流。该研究由一个多学科的科学家团队领导，与主要利益相关者合作，将探索重用模型，并提供实现向重用大规模转变所需的见解。我们的研究将围绕五个工作包（WP）进行结构化。WP 1将研究人们用来描述不同类型塑料的语言以及与其再利用/处置相关的行动。我们将研究公众对塑料和行动的理解与利益相关者（例如，地方当局，制造商），以及如何使用语言作为促进思维和行为变化的工具（例如，通过以不同的方式描述材料和动作）。WP 2将查看历史（例如，牛奶的门阶递送）和当代（例如，超市再填充站）的再利用模型，以及包装的标准化模型（例如，锡罐），以确定今后再利用可能发挥的作用以及可能促进和/或阻碍这一作用的因素。WP 3将确定人们可能愿意重用什么，何时以及为什么。我们还将考虑在材料和/或潜在的污染恶化，使再利用不可接受的点，以及，至关重要的是，如何改变这些决定，以促进（适当的）再利用。WP 4将使用生命周期评估来确定一系列不同再利用模式在一系列不同情况下的环境影响;从而提供准确确定哪种再利用模式是“最佳”所需的数据。最后，WP 5将通过模拟食品、个人护理和家用产品中成分的重复洗涤和潜在污染，调查当前和新兴聚合物以及其他可重复使用包装材料的适用性。总之，拟议研究的成果将是基于可靠的科学数据，了解塑料包装再利用模型何时以及如何具有良好意义。例如，我们的研究可能会为促进社会思维转向购买产品而不是租用包装奠定基础。我们的方法认识到，一个新的系统，优先再利用，然后回收，耐用材料需要一个步骤的行为变化，真正的创造性和新颖的想法发生在学科之间的接口，当不同的观点被带到一起在一个开放和“安全”的环境。申请人已经证明了他们作为一个多学科团队与关键利益相关者一起工作的能力，就像正在进行的一次性塑料项目一样。本提案描述了将这些专业知识和初步想法转化为科学严谨和联合数据所需的研究，这些数据可以为将再利用作为国家（以及潜在的国际）愿景提供基础;从而防止塑料进入环境并刺激更可持续的商业，供应链和经济模式。

项目成果

Signs of Use Present a Barrier to Reusable Packaging Systems for Takeaway Food

使用迹象对外卖食品的可重复使用包装系统构成了障碍

• DOI: 10.3390/su15118857
• 发表时间: 2023
• 期刊: Sustainability
• 影响因子: 3.9
• 作者: Collis B

Reusable Plastic Packaging - Threat or Opportunity

可重复使用的塑料包装 - 威胁还是机遇

• 发表时间: 2021
• 期刊: Interplas Insights
• 作者: Greenwood, S

"I don't think education is the answer": A corpus-assisted ecolinguistic analysis of plastics discourses in the UK.

• DOI: 10.1515/jwl-2022-0017
• 发表时间: 2022-08
• 期刊: Journal of world languages

IOM3

IOM3

• 发表时间: 2021
• 期刊: Refil, return and repurpose - the reuse and recycling paradigm
• 作者: Greenwood, S

Reducing plastic waste: A meta-analysis of influences on behaviour and interventions

减少塑料废物：对行为和干预措施影响的荟萃分析

• DOI: 10.1016/j.jclepro.2022.134860
• 发表时间: 2022
• 期刊: Journal of Cleaner Production
• 影响因子: 11.1
• 作者: Allison A