Recycling – Is It Just A Load Of Rubbish?

We use a lot of stuff, and then throw it away so that it becomes someone else’s problem. What happens to our rubbish? How much of it could have a second life as something useful? How does this fit with the need to make money? But the bottom line is that we need to become more frugal with the earth’s resources, and end-of-life materials have a big part to play. In jargon, we need to move from a linear material usage model to a circular economy.

The answers are very variable depending on the type of material and what has been done to it to make the products that we use. Recycling is part of the picture, but it may not be the only solution and may not be the best approach in some cases. How does it stack up in environmental and economic terms? The obvious solutions are usually too simplistic, and have unexpected negative consequences. It is always important to consider end-of-life products in the context of the whole material lifecycle, as part of a system rather than an isolated process. We will explore different approaches to closing the materials usage loop particularly for metals and plastics and consider what optimal practices might look like.

Claire Barlow read Materials Science at Cambridge University before joining the Engineering Department where she is now Emeritus FacuIty. She is Fellow Emerita at Newnham College. Her main research interest is in environmental aspects of production, use and disposal of engineering materials, with a focus on recycling processes and mechanical properties of recycled materials. She has worked on technical projects developing end-of-life treatments for a range of materials including plastics, natural materials, paper and aluminium. The problems of managing waste materials are integrally connected with wider industrial, social and political issues, and her work includes studies of waste management in international settings.

Refreshments will be available from 30 minutes before the advertised start time.

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