Acknowledgements
This free course was written by Rob Janes and was first published in August 2026.
OpenLearn editor: Dale Harry
Except for third party materials and otherwise stated (see terms and conditions [Tip: hold Ctrl and click a link to open it in a new tab. (Hide tip)] ), this content is made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 Licence.
The material acknowledged below is Proprietary and used under licence (not subject to Creative Commons Licence). Grateful acknowledgement is made to the following sources for permission to reproduce material in this free course:
Course Image: ARTFULLY PHOTOGRAPHER/Shutterstock
Images
Figure 1: Photograph of Widnes in the late 19th century showing the effects of industrial pollution https://commons.wikimedia.org/ wiki/ File:Widnes_Smoke.jpg
Figure 2: (adapted from: Catherine Weetman, https://commons.wikimedia.org/ wiki/ File:Linear_versus_circular.jpg https://creativecommons.org/ licenses/ by-sa/ 4.0/ deed.en
Figure 4: The 12 principles of Green Chemistry: adapted from https://www.labroots.com/ tag/ green-chemistry/ webinars https://www.labroots.com
Figure 7: A form of the Periodic Table showing those elements in plentiful supply and those under serious threat of running out https://www.euchems.eu/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Highlights-template-4.jpg Deed - Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International - Creative Commons
Figure 8: Charles Hawes/Getty Images
Figure 9: aluminium recycling label symbol
Videos
Video 1: How to solve the plastic problem: made by Gemma Green for The BBC and The Open University © BBC and The Open University
Video 2: UN SDGs: courtesy: Department of Global Communications United Nations, New York https://www.unmultimedia.org/avlibrary
Video 3: extract: The Haber–Bosch process: photographic images (drone) Suwin Puengsamrong /Alamy Stock Photo ; (Eutrophication in a river in Suffolk) geogphotos/Alamy. ©The Open University
Video 4: Affordable and clean energy: (identified Illustrations: adapted from: C. Niether, S. Faure, A. Bordet, J. Deseure, M. Chatenet, J. Carrey, B. Chaudret and A. Rouet, Nature Energy, 2018, 3, 476; Alamy). ©The Open University
Video 5: The Periodic Table and sustainability (part 1) (identified images; photo of recyclable label: Martin Lízal/Shutterstock; The 90 natural elements that make up everything https://www.euchems.eu/ wp-content/ uploads/ 2019/ 10/ Highlights-template-4 Deed - Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International - Creative Commons). ©The Open University
Video 6: The Periodic Table and sustainability (part 2): (identified images: Alamy; MRI scanner: in Chialvo, C & Sayles, T & Diederichs, Jost & Spagna, Stefano & Gabal, Miguel & Sesé, J. & Rillo, Conrado. (2014). Smart Energy Compressors for Helium Liquefiers ) ©The Open University
Video 7: Recycling Gold from Electronic Waste Recycling Gold from Electronic Waste courtesy of The Royal Mint
Every effort has been made to contact copyright owners. If any have been inadvertently overlooked, the publishers will be pleased to make the necessary arrangements at the first opportunity.
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