Over the past two decades sustainability has developed from a peripheral concern to a pressing mainstream issue, affecting domestic and industrial domains. The creative industry's diverse outputs, ranging from physical artworks and hard luxury goods to publications and films, all entail multiple entanglements with material sustainability. The project team will scope current and immanent sustainable practice around the sourcing, use, disposal, recycling and reuse of materials, to help understand the creative sector's ongoing responses. Recognising that different creative disciplines have different prerogatives and operate under specific pressures, the research will take a discipline-led approach, whilst also acknowledging where cross-discipline activity is evident. The project will cover: Architectural Design (including architectural model making); Applied Arts (Ceramics; Furniture making; Glass; Goldsmithing and silversmithing; Instrument Making; Jewellery); Design (Industrial design; Packaging design; Product design; Design for medical applications), Fashion (menswear, womenswear; accessories, including leather working), Filmmaking; Fine Arts (Installation; Painting; Printmaking; Sculpture), Museums, Galleries and Heritage (Collection conservation and restoration; Curating contemporary art; Museum display and storage; Heritage building maintenance); Photography, Textiles, Theatre and performing arts (including Scenography, Costume, and Lighting). The result will be a comprehensive record of the current positions on materials sustainability and related issues held by the spectrum of creative industries active across the UK. This will be supplemented by a series of case studies of individual initiatives from other countries, predominantly in the developing world, where improving sustainability is an evident element of the activities under examination. In both cases, reference will be made to how the identified activities relate to the United Nations' Sustainability Development Goals. The project activities will include a comprehensive literature review, remote surveys and informal scoping interviews with practitioners and associated professionals working in one of more creative disciplines, as well as (conditions allowing) engaging with members of the creative industries through small, discipline-focused workshops and project roadshow events held at the project team members' institutions in Brighton, Edinburgh, London and Plymouth. These events will be opportunities to engage in dialogue, present the interim findings to the attendees and to gather further information. Should travel and social distancing restrictions make some elements of this approach unviable, the team will focus on a more digitally orientated data collection, review and result broadcasting strategy. The case studies will draw on the team members' previous overseas research experience and professional networks, supplemented (where possible) by field visits to enable them to understand how sustainability ideals are informing individuals' practice and perceptions in the context of the case study initiative. The key result will be a composite report, authored by all the research team. The report will act as a benchmark of state-of-the-art practice and perceptions around material sustainability in the creative industries, identifying existing trends and showcasing cutting-edge developments, as well as flagging sector-wide and discipline specific barriers that will have to be negotiated or addressed to achieve widespread sustainably orientated practice. The report will also provide insights into the creative industries from an international perspective and contribute to an understanding of how the Global Challenges Research Fund and Newton Fund might be utilised to instigate or support sustainability initiatives relating to the creative industries across the developing world.

Why do consumers continue to purchase plastic packaging products, even when they have real concerns for the environment and tend to feel positively about more sustainable solutions? How do supply chain actors respond to consumer attitudes & behaviours in relation to the use of plastic packaging? How can we implement enhanced waste management strategies which go beyond conventional plastic packaging solutions? Focusing on the food sector, we aim to answer such questions by developing a better understanding of plastic packaging throughout the whole supply chain, from production to consumption to post-consumption. If industry and policy are to have any realistic chance of significantly reducing plastic wastage in the UK and abroad, a thorough understanding of the functions of plastic packaging in consumers' lives is needed. However, this understanding needs to be connected to business and waste management practices, to tackle key pinch points inhibiting the drive toward cleaner, greener growth. The interdisciplinary research will be a collaborative effort between researchers at Lancaster University (from the Management School, the Department of Chemistry, the Materials Science Institute) and an extensive network of industry partners, including: supermarkets (Waitrose - UK Plastic Pact consortium member & Booths); food suppliers (Bells of Lazonby & Butlers Larder); next generation packaging producers (BioTech Services Ltd); professional industry networks (Chartered Institute of Waste Management & Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining); waste management companies (Preston Plastics & Precious plastic); and local councils (Lancaster City Council). We take a mixed-method approach, drawing on archival data, ethnographic techniques, multi-case study analysis, action-based research, mixed-desk and field-based research, to explore multiple perspectives on plastic packaging in the food sector. This research speaks directly to the UK's Smart Sustainable Plastic Packaging (SSPP) Challenge objectives and UK Plastic PACT 2025 targets. Working with stakeholders along the supply chain, this research will provide valuable insights to increase collaboration and shared understanding along the UK food plastic packaging supply chain in order to create a sense of shared responsibility and improved packaging options. The novelty of this project is that it gathers insights from consumers and their plastic packaging consumption and disposal, but also brings those insights to supply chain stakeholders (producers, retailers, re-users and waste management organisations) and in so doing, develops a detailed and rich understanding of how the attitude-behaviour gap can be addressed. This would allow the team to develop practical guidance on ways to influence people's packaging behaviour. Specifically, we will provide guidance on ways that producers can influence consumers in this domain, to provide consumers with more sustainable and attractive packaging alternatives, or redesign products/operational processes that promote resource productivity and avoid plastic waste. We will also develop guidance for post-consumer packaging organisations on consumer attitudes and discarded plastic packaging indicating drivers, barriers and opportunities for alternative plastic packaging (reusable, recyclable or compostable), effective recycling, and further investment in material recapture. For a more circular, sustainable model of manufacturing, consumption and disposal centred on next generation packaging to be developed, we need this detailed analysis of consumer behaviour around packaging, alongside a deep understanding of business and waste management practices. This holistic view of plastic packaging in people's lives will drive cleaner, greener growth.

The 20th Century was characterised by a massive global increase in all modes of transport, on land and water and in the air, for moving both passengers and freight. Whilst easy mobility has become a way of life for many, the machines (planes, automobiles, trains, ships) that enable this are both highly resource consuming and environmentally damaging in production, in use and at the end of their working lives (EoL). Over the years, great attention has been paid to increasing their energy efficiencies, but the same effort has not been put into optimising their resource efficiency. Although they may share a common origin in the raw materials used, the supply chains of transport sectors operate in isolation. However, there are numerous potential benefits that could be realised if Circular Economy (CE) principles were applied across these supply chains. These include recovery of energy intensive and/or technology metals, reuse/remanufacture of components, lower carbon materials substitutions, improved energy and material efficiency. While CE can change the transport system, the transport system can also enable or disable CE. By considering different transport systems in a single outward-looking network, it is more likely that a cascading chain of materials supply could be realised- something that is historically very difficult within just a single sector. CENTS will focus on transport platforms where CE principles have not been well embedded in order to identify synergies between different supply chains and to optimise certain practices, such as EoL recovery and recycling rates and energy and material efficiency. It will also be 'forward looking' in terms of developing future designs, business models and manufacturing approaches so that emergent transport systems are inherently circular. More specifically, our Network will carry out Feasiblity and Creativity@Home generated research that will develop the ground work for future funding from elsewhere; provide travel grants to/from the UK for both established and Early Career Researcgers to increase the UK network of expertise and experience in this critical area; hold conferences and workshops where academics and industrialists can learn from each other; build demonstrators of relevant technology so that industry can see what is possible within a Circular Economy approach. These activities will all be supported by a full communication strategy focusing on outreach with school children and policy influence though agencies such as Catapults and WRAP.