University of Hull researchers from Evolving a Circular Plastics Economy made presentations on two contrasting elements of the project. Read on for more information and links to download the relevant paper.

Session 4.1

Engaging Young People in the Circular Plastics Economy using Citizen Inquiry Methodologies and Creative Participatory Research Methods

Kevin Burden, Charlotte Dean, Fiona James and Rudi Wurzel

This paper describes a multi-disciplinary research project which explored the use of various creative participatory research methodologies including Citizen Inquiry to identify what young people really understand about and how they relate to the circular plastics economy.

Download a PDF of the paper here

Session 4.2

“There is no problem with plastics”: Understanding consumer and industrial perceptions of the plastics problem

Michael Farrelly, Anne Kildunne, Pauline Deutz

This paper reports on a novel analysis of transcripts from two workshops with diverse regional stakeholders partnering the University of Hull “Evolving a Circular Plastics Economy” project. We posed a series of discussion topics in order to uncover the social actors (stakeholders seen as taking active or passive role in a given context) identified and the representation of the relationships between them.

The proliferation of plastics waste and its polluting effects have been thrust into the public eye following high-profile media attention, which has given plastics a pre-eminent position in UK circular economy research and policy debate.   Devising policy solutions, though, requires having sufficient understanding of an issue to frame a problem to which there are identifiable solutions.

Download a PDF of the paper here