Birmingham professor discusses how to make plastics more sustainable in Royal Society of Chemistry webinar

The webinar explored whether biodegradable plastics are a useful way of maintaining the benefits of plastics whilst addressing the challenges around their use, reuse and disposal.

Moderated by Benjamin Valsler, digital editor, Chemistry World magazine, Professor Andrew Dove, alongside Tamara Galloway, Professor of ecotoxicity at the University of Exeter, examined the following questions:

• How biodegradable plastics are designed and tested?
• What are the practicalities of using biodegradable plastics, and how they interact with the environment and with the waste management system?
• What are the opportunities and challenges these materials present on our journey to a more sustainable future?

Professor Dove is a Professor of Sustainable Polymer Chemistry at the University of Birmingham. He leads the Birmingham Plastics Network, an interdisciplinary team of more than 40 academics working together to shape the fate and sustainable future of plastics.

The webinar was the first in a series of free events throughout 2021 developed by the Royal Society of Chemistry’s Science Policy Unit, exploring current issues around plastic production, use, reuse and disposal.

Chemistry World – Should we design biodegradable plastics?