Forever Keele 15
Cheap plastic is flooding developing countries - we ' re making new biodegradable materials to help
Dr Deirdre McKay *
Squeezed by lower fuel demand during the pandemic and the rise of renewable energy , the oil industry is staking out a new future for itself in plastics , increasingly looking to use their product to manufacture cheap packaging which they can sell in lower to middle income countries .
The problem ? Many countries lack the means to recycle even their own plastics . Countries in the developing world are already inundated with plastic exported for sorting and reprocessing by higher income nations , so oil companies are effectively threatening to flood the developing world with a new wave of virtually unrecyclable plastics .
As pressure to sell more plastics to the developing world grows , so does the body of evidence demonstrating the harms caused by this waste accumulating in the environment . This calls for locking waste plastics in “ safe sinks ”, like wood-plastic composites .
Click here to read the full article .
Ian ' s Keele Memories
Keele alumnus Ian Harris , tells us what inspired his recent blog about his time at Keele during the 1980s ...
“ I have been writing stuff down in diaries , journals and logs for most of my life . Five years ago , in December 2015 , I decided to embark on a blogging project . I named it Ogblog , as it is a cross between an old git ’ s diary ( collating materials and memories of all the stuff I have done in the past ) and a contemporary blog .
" It is basically an experiences site , covering my interests : travel , theatre , music , cricket , tennis , writing ; plus my more youthful experiences of student life and school life .
" The retro-blogging element is a long-term project . Five years in , with over 2,300 pieces on Ogblog now , I think I might just about complete the retroblogging part in another 10 to 12 years , at the current rate .
" I write up some elements as memories hit me ( running into an old friend , perhaps , or sometimes simply having a memory flash for seemingly no reason ). Quite a few Keele memories are up there from such random memories .
" But I mostly write project-like chunks . This autumn is the 40th anniversary of my starting Keele , so I am writing and posting regular pieces based on my autumn 1980 diaries .
" I was at Keele for five years , the last of which as sabbatical Education & Welfare officer for the Students ’ Union . Keele is a huge part of who I am . Ogblog is helping me reconnect with old friends from Keele and also meet some new “ Keele tragics ”.
" I am always very pleasantly surprised by the reaction I get when I post a link to a new piece in the Forever Keele Facebook Group . I welcome comments , corrections and guest pieces too ."
Click here to read Ian ' s blog .
Pictured : Ian ' s Education and Welfare Officer campaign manifesto .