Presentations:

Gauri Pathak, Associate Professor, Dept. of Global Studies: How to deal with plastic pollution: the sociocultural angle

We also need to take into account existing infrastructures of production, use, recycling, and disposal and plan interventions that work with the myriad ways in which plastics are embedded in everyday patterns of living and the perceived constraints to reducing plastic dependence. We will describe some of the more behavioral or social interventions aimed at plastic control, their constraints, and the kinds of shifts needed for socially and environmentally sustainable plastic management. Together, we suggest that the only real way forward in tackling plastic pollution is through targeted interventions, combining both scientific and social scientific approaches, across the life cycle of plastics

Daniel Otzen, Professor in nanobiotechnology, iNANO: 

Plastic was a technical and cultural revolution when it was gradually introduced to society in the course of the 20^th century and its use pervades our everyday life. However, its very advantages (strength, durability and general resistance to normal breakdown processes) are also its weaknesses: plastic is difficult to recycle both for human, societal and technical reasons. Plastics are typically littered, buried or burnt in the open. As a consequence we have enormous garbage patches floating in the ocean, plastic refuse littering the countryside, wasteful and polluting incinerations and accumulation of macro- and microplastics in animals, plants, and ecosystems on land, in the air, and at sea. More eco-friendly plastics, which are (somewhat) easier to degrade and recycle, can replace some plastics. However, many of plastic’s attractive features are still difficult to reproduce by their green counterparts. Consequently, there is a strong need to develop sustainable ways to reuse current fossil-based plastics, both to clean up existing waste and to valorize them for future use. We will describe current efforts underway to address these efforts, ranging from large-scale engineering/sorting efforts to chemical and biological strategies to “deconstruct” plastics (hello Derrida!) and obtain or directly exploit the results of these breakdown steps. However, techno-fix “hockey-stick” thinking will not solve the problem alone.