There are around 144,000 people in the district of Lancaster – from the city itself to Morecambe, the villages and rural areas beyond. They produced 8,998 tons of household recycling in 2023.
So, why do these residents only recycle 36% of their plastics? What could you as a resident do to improve your habits? And what happens to the plastic that is recycled when the council collects it?
It’s time to bring an end to our investigation of the Plastic Packaging in People’s Lives project – and we bring it all back home.
Carly Sparks, Lancaster City Council’s Public Realm Improvement Lead, joins us to talk about their involvement in PPiPL as a waste collection authority.
We look at the reasons different councils have different rules for recycling collections, how PPiPL has helped Lancaster City Council find ways to encourage residents to recycle more and in the right way, what can be done to avoid confusion over what can and cannot be recycled, and whether Jan is a conscientious recycler. Could she even become an exemplar – or a pariah – in her community?
Plus, the importance of Sort, Wash and Squash. And why does Jan know so much about New Zealand soap operas?
Read more about Lancaster City Council’s involvement with PPiPL here: https://doc.your-brochure-online.co.uk/Lancaster-University_FiftyFourDegrees_Issue_21/22/
And find out more about the Wash and Squash it campaign from the council here: https://www.lancaster.gov.uk/bins-recycling/recycling/recycling-boxes
Transforming Tomorrow
Sustainability is key for any business that wants to build a lasting legacy. From carbon footprints to biodiversity to modern slavery, seabeds to factory floors, everything matters.
On Transforming Tomorrow, we make the complex understandable, the theory practical, as we guide you through the ever-changing and often exciting world of sustainability in business.
Speaking to internationally renowned experts and business leaders, we uncover how to mainstream environmental, social and economic sustainability into purposeful business strategy and performance.
Whether you are leading transition in your business, want to build a corporation with a green heart or change your individual actions, or just want to know more about how space weather might affect your operations, Transforming Tomorrow is the show for you.
Hosts Jan and Paul bring insight, perspective, and not a little amount of disagreement, to all the subjects, helping you find the message among the madness.
Join us every Monday to uncover new insights and become a little more inspired that you can make a difference.
You can find transcripts for most episodes at: https://www.lancaster.ac.uk/pentland/resources-for-education-and-practice/transforming-tomorrow-podcast/transcripts/
Send your questions on any of the issues we discuss in Transforming Tomorrow to [email protected] or fill in our feedback form here: https://forms.office.com/e/7Bw4rDiRDt
Find out more about the Pentland Centre and its work here: https://www.lancaster.ac.uk/pentland/
Meet the Hosts
Professor Jan Bebbington is the Director of the Pentland Centre for Sustainability in Business at Lancaster University. Jan is an expert on accounting, benchmarking (to her co-host’s annoyance), and how business and sustainability intersect.
Jan loves nature and wants to protect it – and hopes she can change the world (ideally for the better). She is also motivated to address inequality wherever it is found and especially to eliminate forced, bonded or child labour. Transforming Tomorrow is one small step on that quest.
Paul Turner is a former sports journalist who now works promoting the research activities in Lancaster University Management School – a poacher turned gamekeeper as his former colleagues would have it.
Paul has always been interested in nature and the natural environment – it comes from growing up in Cumbria – and has been a vocal proponent of the work of the Pentland Centre since joining Lancaster University. He does not like rankings and benchmarking, and is not afraid to say so.