On the 30th May 2024, Sustainable Futures held the fifth 2024 iteration of their monthly online seminar series. In this edition, collaborative business models for a plastics circular economy and sustainability in space were discussed. Chaired by Dr Stephen Lowe, Research Associate for Sustainable Futures, the seminar included two talks from Professor Maria Sharmina, Dr Adeyemi Adelekan and Dr Craig Thomas. All are researchers at The University of Manchester.

The first presentation was provided jointly by Professor Maria Sharmina and Dr Adeyemi Adelekan. Maria is Professor in Energy and Sustainability at the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research in the School of Engineering, The University of Manchester whereas Adeyemi is a Postdoctoral Researcher, also at The University of Manchester. The talk was titled 'Collaborative Business Models for a Plastics Circular Economy in the UK'. Read the talk abstract here:

"Plastics play a huge role in modern life, but their negative impact on the environment and health demands innovative solutions to mitigate their effects. In the UK, less than half of the plastics put on the market are recycled, leading to most ending up in landfills or incinerators. Research emphasizes the need for a unified household plastics collection system, integrating digital technologies to enhance sorting accuracy and value retention in mixed waste streams, thus promoting a circular economy..."

"However, collaborations among organizations are difficult and filled with contestations, particularly around how value is created and captured. Emerging studies have started to explore how value chain actors assess circular business models, aiming to explore sources of contestations and ways to navigate tensions to foster collaborations necessary to realize a circular economy..."

"Our 'One Bin to Rule Them All' project is situated within this context and involved a consortium consisting of stakeholders across the UK plastic supply chain. We employed a multi-method qualitative approach to explore the co-creation of collaborative circular business models to enable a 'One Bin system' for managing plastic waste in the UK..."

"In this talk, we will discuss the circular business model typologies co-created with stakeholders and the challenges associated with their implementation. We will also discuss the assessments and legitimacy judgments informing those contestations and the behaviour of value chain actors that also shape emerging circular economy institutions. The talk will end by highlighting elements important to value chain actors when assessing circular business models and discussing the implications of our findings for research and practice."

After a Q&A session wherein attendees could ask any questions to Maria and Adeyemi, the second presentation of the day was next.

Dr Craig Thomas, Lecturer in Environmental Governance at The University of Manchester, presented 'Bridging Disciplines for Sustainable Space: The Space Sustainability Network'. Craig highlighted the key issues in space sustainability, as well as the importance for interdisciplinarity in space research to achieve truly sustainable solutions.

His session presented The University of Manchester Space Sustainability Network, that, since July 2022, has provided a forum for interdisciplinary discussions on the topic of space sustainability. This group, led by Craig Thomas, started informally through monthly meetings that brought together academics and researchers from a variety of fields to share expertise. The network has fostered development of the "Space and Sustainability" module (GEOG60982) offered by the School of Environment, Education and Development (SEED), a key example of successful cross-disciplinary pedagogy. The network has also fostered two collaborative research projects (Sustainable Futures; UMRI) and is currently working on a joint commentary proposing a space sustainability research agenda, all reflecting a more comprehensive approach to sustainability.

The session situated the network’s development as part of an effort by its members to highlight the importance of outer space to academics interested in sustainability and the sustainable development goals. It related the successes and challenges of establishing and growing a cross-disciplinary network that crosses individual departments and faculties, and whose focus doesn’t align with a particular institute. It reflected on how interdisciplinary teaching and research can break down departmental barriers, leading to impactful research and a more unified approach to sustainability across the University, and considers options for establishing and growing academic networks for sustainability across the University. The discussion looked to the Sustainable Futures platform to ask how we can share our ideas and learning through university-wide networks toward a more sustainable future, on Earth and in outer space.

Another live Q&A session involving attendees of the seminar followed, after which the event was soon wrapped up.

If you missed the event, you can watch it back here:

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