Recycling and Waste

Test your knowledge about plastics in our oceans, and learn about how they impact the environment by clicking on the image below...

What benefits do plastics offer society? What can we do with used plastic to avoid damage to the environment? Simon Collinson investigates...

A savvy shift in industrial resourcefulness is reflected in products that last longer, are adaptable, maintainable, and repairable. Such products optimise material value through preventing waste. These design strategies challenge the ways we create, use, and dispose of our everyday stuff. By extending the utility of our products, we reduce ...

This free course, Waste management and environmentalism in China, is an introduction to waste generation and waste management processes currently being practiced in China. This course explores how the Chinese can deal with increasing volumes of waste, drawing parallels with the UK experience of waste management. It also discusses the conceptual ...

Discover why research into sustainable chemistry is vital to reduce both the use of resources and the environmental impact of society on the planet.

Reduce, reuse, recycle. Reduce means reducing your use of items that lead to waste. Since 2000, amounts of e-waste have grown from 20 million to 50 million tonnes per year.

The photos of birds killed by bellies full of plastic waste are harrowing - but why do they eat the stuff in the first place? The OU's Miranda Dyson explains.

Sisters Against Plastic (Mary and Theresa) are ‘normal people’ who noticed just how much plastic they were using.

What harm can microplastics cause to human health and can they get into our food? Joanna Jesionkowska, a research student at The Open University, looks into this here.

The role of consumers play a vital part in waste management; Dr Katy Wheeler explores how in this article. 

Many of the decisions we make have implications for our environment, particularly those concerning natural resources and waste. Taking account of environmental factors in decision making can be both complex and challenging. This free course, Introducing environmental decision making, considers decisions in their broader contexts and advocates a ...

Global warming: are we responsible? Is our environmental impact damaging the planet? This free course, Working with our environment: an introduction, examines the use of ozone-depleting technology, the impact of fossil fuel use and explores how the development of technology can influence the direction of a society. From the Industrial Revolution...

Ann Storr explores simple options to tackle food waste.

This free course, Exploring economics: the secret life of t-shirts, aims to describe what goes into making and selling t-shirts. Which resources, which markets, who is involved, the income people get, the income and value they create are all discussed. You will explore these questions at different stages of the production of a t-shirt, and ...

Old computers, knackered telly sets and phones that are so last year: How much of this discarded stuff is piling up?

Obsolete computer equipment creates a waste headache. Smashing it up into tiny, tiny particles might be the best way of recycling, says new research.

Amanda Theunissen, Editor of 'Nature' in the eighties, discusses environmental issues, The Octonauts and digital archive. 

To what extent do procurement policies affect the digital carbon footprint? This article examines why we should look more closely when deciding what to buy.