Page 4 - Survival Plan: Climate Emergency

4 THESTAR www.thestar.co.uk Wednesday,September18,2019
£1 million project aimed at redefining single-use plastics
PLASTIC IS GREAT: OUR ATTITUDE IS THE PROBLEM
By David Walsh
Business Editor david.walsh@jpimedia.co.uk
Plastic is great: light, durable and cheap – it’s our attitude to it that’s the problem.
That’s why there’s 7bn tonnes
on earth and millions of tonnes in the sea.
A £1m Plastics: Redefining Single-Use project at the Grantham Centre for Sustainable Futures at The University of Sheffield aims to change not just the way we deal with it, but the way we think about it too.
Dr Rachael Rothman, associate director, said: “The problem is not plastic, it’s plastic waste. We
have become a society of convenience. And while there are clever ways to recycle it re-use is better.”
And local re-use is better still.
The centre is working with Sheffield dairy farm Our Cow Molly to replace 85,000 plastic milk bottles the university gets through every year with 20 litre
‘People don’t want to be inconvenienced but they do want to do the right thing. They will change if they have the right understanding and motivation’
project is successful, the idea is to roll it out to other cafes anywhere in the world.”
The Grantham Centre has 157 academics and 68 PhD students working on scores of projects including looking at plastics in agriculture and dentistry, deposit return schemes, manufacturing packaging and standardised recycling systems for
local councils, which have a bewildering array of different schemes.
And it is taking aim
at ‘greenwash’, such as ‘compostable’ magazine wraps that need an industrial composter and ‘plant-based’ plastics which use more resources than the traditional oil-based process.
Dr Rothman added: “All our life cycle analysis shows re-use is best. And the best re-usable cup is the one you already have.”
But while science
is important, human behaviour will ultimately decide if we live or die. That’s why half the academics on the project have a social
or behavioural science background.
Valuing resources, education, mindset, taxation
Planting in cities used to be largely decorative – now it plays a central role in fighting climate change.
Prof Nigel Dunnett, of the University of Sheffield, has been key to this shift, pioneering green roofs, urban meadows and more recently ‘Grey to Green’ schemes which incorporate wildflowers and trees with flood management features.
The first, along West
Bar in Sheffield, was such a success it is currently being extended along Castlegate to Victoria Quays.
Prof Dunnett said: “I would say that Sheffield
is now the leading city in the UK for climate change- adapted public realm.
“Implementing it is transformative for all concerned – it looks different and it needs to be managed differently – as a result it is challenging.
“But it has to be done on a big scale, and not by tinkering at the edges – in the Grey to Green scheme we have the best example in the UK, and perhaps internationally, of how this can be done successfully.”
Other climate projects include The Barbican in London, where public
realm has been turned
into drought-tolerant ‘no-irrigation’ gardens to prepare for a predicted increase in hot dry summers, such as in 2018.
Prof Dunnett also founded Sheffield company Pictorial Meadows which creates seed mixes and sells them.
‘Naturalistic planting’ is good for insect life and saves councils money, replacing regular mowing with sowing once every two years. The firm has planted hundreds of hectares in Sheffield, Rotherham and across the country.
The first Grey to Green scheme at West Bar, Sheffield
fridge-friendly metal milk churns.
Academics are looking at the environmental impact
of reusing them versus manufacturing and recycling or burning for plastics for energy.
“Our Cow Molly is just three miles away. If the
Rachael Rothman holds a returnable deposit bottle from Germany
and legislation will all play a key role in the move from single to re-use.
“We are very good at responding to crises. But
when the climate crisis is visible will it be too late?
“People don’t want to be inconvenienced but they do want to do the right thing.
They will change if they have the right understanding and motivation. How do we, as scientists and engineers, get the message across?”
The power of flowers
IN ASSOCIATION WITH
The University of Sheffield