Plastics - built up atom by atom into substances entirely new.
Substances that can be shaped, plastic substances -
the basis for an industry.
Plastic is a very versatile material and we can produce it at a very large
scale and very cheaply. So most of the plastics we're using, we use as
single-use plastics which means we use it one time and it goes to landfills.
We need to find better ways to recycle plastics and to use it multiple times in
a circular economy.
With regard to a circular economy model, it is basically about
using hopefully as little plastic as possible but if plastic is to be used
the important thing is to recycle it, reuse it, repurpose it.
The Cambridge Creative Circular Plastics Centre has been launched in early 2019 and it
brings together a wide variety of departments in the University of
Cambridge. We also work with a lot of initiatives around Cambridge and also
local councils and industries. Our goal is to develop new technologies and
approaches to reduce or eliminate the plastics pollution problem.
Plastics are produced today from fossil fuels. Researchers within CirPlas develop plant
based plastics that form a completely a new form of material. These materials
are sustainable and can hopefully in the future also degrade naturally.
We also try to answer the question: how much plastic is enough? And where does all the
plastic end up? So within CirPlas we map plastic flows we see where plastic is
being produced and where it ends up in the environment. We also look at social
case studies, we investigate consumer behaviour in different countries for
example we investigate how plastic waste is being handled in Japan and Uruguay
and compare it with the UK and we also develop business cases on our
plastic technology.
We also use plastics as a raw material for 3D printing
technology and to produce bricks to build houses. In these projects we work
particularly closely with developing countries.
Hi my name is Taylor Uekert, I am a PhD student in the Reisner Lab of the
Chemistry Department in the University of Cambridge. I work on a process called
photo reforming which basically allows us to transform plastic waste into
hydrogen fuel. And the way we do this is with four simple ingredients: waste, water,
sunlight and a photo catalyst which is just a material that uses the energy and
sunlight to make a reaction happen faster. We combine all these ingredients
and when we shine light on them we produce our hydrogen fuel and you can
actually start to see some of the hydrogen bubbles forming and sticking in
that polyester fibre.
Hydrogen fuel is a potential green fuel of the future.
The great thing about it is when you react it you're just releasing water so it's
not like traditional fossil fuels where when you burn them you release
greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide. And we imagine that we could use hydrogen
for different applications. We already have hydrogen powered vehicles and we
could maybe use it for public transportation as well and we hope that
this will help make our society a bit greener.
The Circular Economy Centre at
the Judge Business School fits with the CirPlas in a very key way. From our point
of view we're just identifying business models
that will on the one hand deal with the the plastic problem that we have in the
world but at the same time has a motivation for companies to argue
well it is economically viable and it's financially viable to deal with it.
So for me the plastic pollution problem is a small piece of the puzzle on the
greater sustainability challenge. We have to learn how to utilise our resources
wisely and use it in a circular approach. Plastics is one part but of course
this holds true for a whole global economy and society.
I think we need to
think about the air we breathe, the water we drink,
the soil we use for our food, the energy we consume and what we're doing
here is, in my opinion, is important for the future generations.
This is really exciting because
all of these projects are tackling the problem of plastic
waste from very different angles from how we make it, how we use it and I think
by combining all of these different approaches, that's how we'll
really make a difference for the future.
I'm very optimistic that this problem
can be solved with goodwill from politics, also company support and
consumer behaviour because the technology is there, it's just implementation
and the real will to do it.