UKRI website hosting several useful pages to inform you better on the plastics challenge.
Tackling the Plastics Problem:
UK Research and Innovation have helpfully put together a page called ‘Tackling the Plastics Problem’. This outlines the £20 million Plastics Research and Innovation Fund (PRIF), which explores ideas and innovations that will bring changes to the UK’s plastics manufacturing and consumption patterns. PRIF has funded 8 new projects from 8 universities which aim to reduce plastic waste. You can read about these projects here.
PRIF is managed by UKRI and delivered via the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), Innovate UK, and the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC). .
The fund has three parts which involve:
- Leadership and Knowledge Exchange: UK Circular Plastics Network funding ~ £2 million
- Research: Plastics ‘Creativity’ funding ~ £8 million
- Business led research and development: Plastics ‘Innovation’ funding ~ £10 million
You can read more about this here.
3 Case Studies listed on the UKRI website:
UKRI have put up 3 case studies on the ‘Tackling the Plastics Problem’ section of their website.
iPac: Developing new types of plastic packaging
– iPac is developing new polymers to rival existing products; ones that can compete with the physical properties of current solutions while offering biodegradable properties.
Ichthion: tackling marine plastic
– Ichthion is developing innovative engineering to prevent plastic waste from reaching waterways and to remove it when it does.
Skipping Rocks Lab: edible, biodegradable food packaging
– London-based start-up which is creating waste-free alternatives to plastic bottles and pioneering the idea of food packaging that only lasts as long as it needs to. Skipping Rocks Lab is developing compostable and, in some cases, edible packaging that’s appropriate to its use, which lasts days or weeks rather than hundreds of years.
The Plastic Challenge – blog from Gev Eduljee
Gev Eduljee is Interim Challenge Director for the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund programme on Smart Sustainable Plastic Packaging (SSPP). Here he explains the SSPP Challenge:
“The SSPP Challenge will provide £60 million of government funds to which businesses are expected to jointly invest up to £149 million. One funding stream will support academic-led research and development co-created with industry. The bulk of the funding is earmarked for industry-led collaborative projects – in particular, demonstrator projects that test concepts and commerciality at scale. “
You can view this blog here.
You can also view UKRI’s page on the Smart Sustainable Plastic Packaging Challenge here.
