Many Happy Returns - Enabling reusable packaging systems

我们目前包装食品和其他产品的方法是不可持续的；主要是基于一次性塑料，如果处置不当，会对环境造成重大损害。回收虽然显然是比垃圾填埋更好的选择，但也有其局限性--例如，回收过程导致塑料的功能特性退化。而降低消费只有在一定程度上才是可能的。因此，很明显，我们--也就是科学、工业、政府和社会--需要找到使人们能够重复使用包装的方法，使其在流通中停留更长时间，然后最终进入废流。这项拟议的研究由一个多学科的科学家团队领导，与关键的利益相关者合作，将探索重复使用的模型，并提供实现向重复使用的大规模转变所需的见解。我们的研究将围绕五个工作包(WP)构建。WP1将研究人们用来描述不同类型塑料的语言，以及与其重复使用/处置相关的行为。我们将研究公众对塑料和行动的理解在多大程度上符合利益攸关方(例如，地方当局、制造商)的理解，以及如何将语言用作促进思维和行为改变的工具(例如，通过以不同方式描述材料和行动)。WP2将审查历史上(例如，牛奶上门送货)和当代(例如，超市加油站)的再利用模式，以及标准化的包装模式(例如，锡罐)，以确定再利用在未来可能发挥什么作用，以及哪些因素可能促进和/或阻碍这一作用。WP3将确定人们可能愿意重复使用的内容、时间和原因。我们还将考虑材料的劣化和/或潜在的污染使再利用不可接受的程度；以及至关重要的是，如何改变这种决定以努力促进(适当的)再利用。WP4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背景下对环境的影响；从而提供准确确定哪种再利用模式是“最好的”所需的数据。最后，WP5将通过模拟重复洗涤和食品、个人护理和家居用品中成分的潜在污染来调查当前和新兴聚合物以及其他材料对可重复使用包装的适用性。此外，拟议研究的结果将基于可靠的科学数据，理解塑料包装的重复使用模式何时以及如何具有良好的意义。例如，我们的研究可能会为推动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，一个优先考虑耐用材料再利用然后再循环的新系统需要行为上的一步改变，当不同的观点在开放和安全的环境中汇聚在一起时，真正有创意和新颖的想法出现在学科之间的界面上。申请者已经证明了他们作为一个多学科团队与关键利益攸关方合作的能力，就像在一个正在进行的一次性塑料项目中一样。本提案描述了需要进行的研究，以便将这种专门知识和初步想法转化为科学严谨和相互关联的数据，为将再利用作为国家(和潜在的国际)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。

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.