A sustainable global plastics system needs to be created - where demand is reduced, recycling is increased and new biodegradable products are made without the need for fossil fuels. This requires not just changes in manufacturing, but also new legal frameworks and economic incentives.

The Oxford Martin Programme on the Future of Plastics brought together leading experts from all three fields to identify solutions to the problem of unsustainable production and consumption of plastics, a groundbreaking approach that has led to the creation of a new £11m government-funded research hub. 

Professor Charlotte Williams directs the new Sustainable Chemicals and Materials Manufacturing Hub (SCHEMA), which is funded by the UKRI Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) and leverages a further £22 million in funding from its partners. Bringing together academics, businesses and civic partners, its mission is to improve the sustainability of plastics production, including transitioning away from the use of fossil fuels. 

“The Oxford Martin School investment doesn’t end at the end of the four-year programme, we are taking it forward and working with civil servants on the difficult questions of how these changes can actually be delivered.” 

“The Oxford Martin School funding really enabled us to lay the groundwork for what must happen in the SCHEMA hub,” says Professor Williams. “Through that work it became clear that there are four key actions that need to be taken; we need to cut consumption, switch to renewables, upscale recycling for plastics that can be recycled, and integrate the manufacturing with renewable electricity. Now we have the investment from the EPSRC to solve those problems.” 

Professor Cameron Hepburn and Professor Catherine Redgwell, who led the Future of Plastics programme with Professor Williams, are also part of the SCHEMA hub. Professor Williams has also received further EPSRC funding for an £8m partnership with Unilever, to tackle pollution from chemicals in products such as shampoo, laundry detergent, paints, and agricultural sprays, which dissolve in water and ultimately end up in rivers and seas. 

This work builds on technical advances made by the Future of Plastics programme, redesigning polymers so that they still fulfil their function, but degrade after use. Professor Williams says her work on the Plastics programme was key to her being selected to join the UK government’s new Circular Economy Taskforce: “It was a good example of having worked across a problem, and of the global thinking that is required on this issue”.