This renewed research project and fellowship extension will further explore the viable future of a 'circular plastics economy from an anthropological perspective. This means the way in which plastic waste can be minimised, the useful life of plastics can be extended, and (bio)plastics can contribute to regenerating 'nature'. The project has a specific interest in integrating social justice and just transition principles into definitions of the circular economy, as already occurs with conceptualizations of Sustainable Development. It does so through three thematic work packages that build on the original FLF: bioplastics, social plastics, and just plastics. Bioplastics are often considered problematic in waste policy circles, given the difficulty with which they are composted and their tendency to contaminate conventional plastics recycling streams. Yet they are heralded by the sustainable business community and continue to grow. This work package combines ethnographic research with a producer of two different bioplastic forms of packaging for the pharmaceutical industry with historical research into the debates and controversies surrounding the original bioplastics (casein, parkesine, cellophane) and their replacement with fully synthetic polymers during the twentieth century. Thus, a range of materials that are currently are debated by a limited range of actors in terms of excitement at the production phase and frustration with regards to disposal will benefit from both a nuanced ethnographic study and from a long-lens historical perspective. Social Plastics explores the way in which the social economy of cooperatives, social enterprises and non-for-profit organisations intersects with a circular economy of plastics, ensuring an important role for underprivileged actors and an approach that is socially as well as environmentally responsible. Specifically, this strand compares plastics wastepickers cooperatives in Argentina and Cuba, seeking to understand the barriers to wastepickers moving up the plastics value chain and how they can be overcome. Through research into successful case-studies, wastepickers in other countries will benefit from an anthropological focus on these issues. The wider business community of plastics packaging generators who want to ensure a regular supply of recycled plastics from wastepickers whilst guaranteeing their human rights will also benefit. A partnership with a New Scots plastics collective in Dundee will ensure South-North knowledge exchange between groups seeking to minimise plastic pollution while providing decent work for underprivileged and vulnerable groups. Just Plastics focuses on the role that plastics wastepickers are playing in the UNEP plastic pollution treaty and how they are being included in national action plans to tackle plastic pollution. In this work package, the research team will look at the case of South Africa (TBC), chair of the Friends of Wastepickers group at UNEP and a country with some of the most progressive waste policies with regard to the involvement and protection of wastepickers. A complementary study will also be carried out in collaboration with Zero Waste Scotland that will explore the range of policy options available to Scotland in anticipation of the binding and voluntary treaty targets, ensuring a comparative North-South dimension to this work package. As well as international wastepicker organisations and policymakers, a key beneficiary of this package will be the UNEP secretariat itself, since it will provide world-leading social scientific research on the role of wastepickers in plastics recycling and reducing plastic pollution, complementing the natural and chemical science knowledge base that predominates in this sphere.

Household food waste is an acknowledged societal problem, contributing to greenhouse gas production, food insecurity, and food price inflation. In the UK, household food waste makes up 70% of all post-farm-gate food waste and was recognized by the UK Government's Michael Gove: "Nobody wants to see good food go to waste. It harms our environment, it's bad for business - and it's morally indefensible.". Although there have been studies in the past to reduce food waste, the problem has largely remained intractable until the COVID-19 lockdown. The COVID-19 lockdown has been a big contextual change in people's daily lives. However, it has resulted in positive changes in food waste-related behaviours as indicated in the reports of the Waste & Resources Action Programme (WRAP) and UK media. For example, UK consumers reported an increased awareness and willingness to minimise household food waste leading to a 34% reduction in food waste across 4 key products (bread, milk, potatoes, and chicken) compared to the average across 2018-2019. However, these changes may not last long with the ease of lockdown. Our research aims to harness the positive changes in food waste behaviour and investigate opportunities to sustain this change over the long term. Therefore, our project will (1) identify the factors that have affected food waste behaviours under lockdown, (2) develop, implement and evaluate interventions to support positive behaviour change, and (3) use our partnerships with WRAP and Zero Waste Scotland to disseminate the outcomes across the UK. The outcomes of this research will have positive social and economic impacts on UK food insecurity, consumers' cost savings, and food price inflation, as well as environmental impact on the amount of resources and inputs required and greenhouse gas generated, by not producing food that becomes waste

Plastic waste has a hugely detrimental impact on the environment and there is mounting pressure on industry to replace traditional polluting petrochemical polymers with sustainably-sourced polymers. Plastic film food packaging, while single-use, plays an important role in extending the shelf life of food and reducing food waste that is a significant contributor to greenhouse gases. While plastic films are typically made from recyclable polymers most plastic film food packaging is neither biodegradable nor recyclable due to food contamination. Therefore, if films can be designed to have the appropriate properties, be sustainably-sourced and biodegradable, these sustainable polymer films would be a much better alternative for food packaging applications and result in a large reduction in the amount of plastic ending up in landfill. There are many sustainably-sourced and biodegradable polymers. Nevertheless, the switch to sustainable polymer films is challenging due to a number of factors, not least of which is their poor performance in comparison to petrochemical polymers. If we are able to drive the performance properties of the sustainable polymer films up to the levels of the petrochemicals, consumer and industry demand combined with government incentives will in turn drive large-scale production and lower cost manufacturing. It is, therefore, a matter of urgency to improve sustainable polymer film performance to enable its wide-spread uptake. The performance and processability of sustainable polymer films can be improved by the addition of filler particles and plasticisers, respectively, to form a composite material. While there are numerous studies of specific biodegradable polymer composites (which we name biocomposites) in the scientific literature, progress has been slow owing to a lack of rational design. To increase the shelf life of food, composite packaging films must act as a gas and moisture barrier. The films must also be chemically and thermally stable, have sufficient mechanical strength and flexibility, and transparency so they are aesthetically pleasing to the consumer. From the manufacturing perspective the films must be easily processible. Good barrier properties typically require a high degree of polymer crystallinity. Yet, film flexibility and transparency are also important attributes and require that the crystallites are not too large, potentially reducing crystallinity. The presence of filler particles can either induce or hinder polymer crystallinity, depending on the interaction of the particles with the polymer. The film's microstructure, caused by the spatial arrangement of the polymer crystallites within it, then dictates the large-scale properties such as flexibility, transparency and gas barrier. We propose that crystallinity can be controlled via the interfacial properties and coupling agent, that the microstructure can be controlled through interface properties and processing, and that the composite performance can be controlled through the microstructure. We also expect that the design guidelines will be transferable to other biocomposites. In this project, we will use molecular dynamics simulations to model polymer crystallisation near the filler particle interface. Mesoscale (e.g. finite element and Monte Carlo) modelling will be used to simulate the resulting microstructure. The modelling, combined with experimental preparation, characterisation, and performance measurements, will enable the interface properties and processing steps to be connected to the material properties. The project outcomes will be: 1) identification of biocomposites suitable for thin film food packaging, 2) increased understanding of how filler particles affect polymer crystallization and microstructure, 3) design rules for accelerated biocomposite development, and 4) establishing the pathway for the uptake of the design rules and new materials by industry.

The "tsunami of electronic waste", which reached more than 53.6 million tonnes in 2019, requires a step-change in the design and fabrication of electronics for disposal, reuse or recycling. The problem is exasperated as during the manufacture of electronics, a significant amount of chemical waste is generated as by-products, and the combined impact of by- and end-products are leading to long term environmental and social damage that will outlast many generations. The issue is growing due to the increasing use of ICT devices which will become more embedded within society. Electronics underpins a lot of these technologies (internet of things (IoT), displays (including VR/XR), smart packaging, etc.) and offers an opportunity to the e-Waste issue by realising electronic systems that inherently have end-of-life (cradle to cradle) solutions built in and thus do not require the same complexity of waste management. As a sector, electronics underpins the growth of vertical sectors (e.g., health, aerospace, manufacturing and retail) and thus drives productivity and growth across virtually all sectors of the UK economy. According to Innovate UK's 'Electech sector' roadmap report, the electronics sector employs >1 million people in the UK in >45k businesses, generating revenue of around £100 billion. The enormous economic potential for end products is backed by authoritative forecasts, e.g., IDTechEx predicts a market for large area electronics of >73 billion USD by 2027. Sustainable electronics is, therefore, central to the UK's future economy, environment, security and society. To this end, a disruptive printed electronics manufacturing platform is imperative that is designed for sustainability but maintains the enabling power and stability of traditional electronics, thus can eventually supplant those traditional electronic formats. The ambition of GEOPIC (Green Energy-Optimised Printed Transient ICs) is to develop one of the world's first high-performance (at par with today's silicon-based electronics) ICs and assemblies, which, at the end of life, will physically disappear/degrade at prescribed times into eco-friendly or reusable end-products. Thus, GEOPIC will achieve the step-change needed towards zero waste. The demonstrator devices and circuits will attain performances that are at par with today's silicon-based electronics but can demonstrate biodegradability, enabling the safe disposal of materials, potentially for reuse. The project will address the urgent need for sustainability in advanced manufacturing as well as help alleviate the problem of electronic waste (e-waste). Thus, GEOPIC will achieve the step-change needed towards zero waste.

Summary The National Interdisciplinary Circular Economy Hub will be led by Co-Directors and joint PI's Professors Peter Hopkinson and Fiona Charnley to harness and scale-up the UK's leading research capabilities, providing the evidence base, inspiration and capacity to accelerate the transition towards a global circular economy (CE). To achieve this ambitious vision, the CE-Hub will deliver a User Engagement Strategy targeted to meet the differing needs of three user groups NICER Circular Economy Centre consortia 2) CE research Collaborators, Experts and End Users 3) CE Communities and Wider Society These objectives will be delivered through five pillars. Pillar One: CE-Observatory. We will develop and deliver the UKs first National CE-Observatory to create a systemic data and modelling framework for the NICER programme. The observatory will provide an evidence base to a) improve data quality and consistency across the NICER programme and wider policy initiatives b) improve modelling of resource flows across the UK relevant to CE system level interventions , c) quantify CE resource productivity, value creation and capture opportunities at scale, d) establish a common, agreed and consistent set of CE metrics and indicators and e) provide a source of evidence for a UK CE Road Map. Pillar 2: Knowledge Platform. We will develop a CE Knowledge Platform to coordinate programme outputs and a repository of national research, knowledge, practical demonstration and implementation tools and enablers. Outcomes and impacts of the CE knowledge platform include a) develop shared understanding of CE in theory and practice, principles and methods, b) improve the co-ordination, design and evaluation of CE case studies including detailed evidence of implementation pathways and opportunity c) generate knowledge and insight to inform key research, policy and industry solutions, d) identify UKRI and Innovate UK funding priorities, [c] create a gateway between the UK and International CE communities Pillar 3: Impact and Innovation. The CE-Hub will facilitate mechanisms of interdisciplinary, cross-value chain collaboration and solution innovation; contributing towards the co-creation of a UK CE Road map. Outcomes and impacts include a) increase the UK CE research and innovation capacity, b) build capability and experience of interdisciplinary CE collaboration c) create new CE value propositions, products, services and demonstrators capable of scaling and d) advance understanding of the pathways, enabling mechanisms and roadmaps to implementation. Pillar 4: Inclusive Community and Pillar 5: Capacity Building. The CE-Hub will build and coordinate an inclusive and capable CE community to enable CE transformation through collaboration and communication. It will identify CE capability and skills gaps and inform future funding and training opportunities. Outcomes and impacts include a) to embed multi-disciplinary understanding of CE principles, opportunities and pathways through a highly engaged community, b) the synthesis of evidence directed towards key stakeholder questions, c) to define CE skills, capacity requirements and career pathways d) to contribute to an increase in ECRs pursuing CE related careers and e) increase general consumer awareness of CE and influence informed behaviour and decision making.