Problems with Plastic: How Portsmouth University is Leading the Charge.
Right on your doorstep, the University of Portsmouth is taking strides to address the global plastic problem. I interviewed research fellows at The UoP Centre for Blue Governance and first-class Marine Biology graduate Eleanor Rowland to find out more, and why this is important.
The Centre for Blue Governance is a multidisciplinary facility, focusing on freshwater and marine issues. Dr Louisa Wood, the centre’s secretary, explained they ‘ take an expansive approach to blue governance to progress research with policy, which aids policy goals’, by taking ‘interdisciplinary approaches to whole system solutions’. Established in February 2020, the CBG is part of the University of Portsmouth’s multi-pronged approach to tackling the climate crisis.
According to The Pew Charitable Trusts and SYSTEMIQ report ‘Breaking the Plastic Wave’, the annual discharge of plastic into the ocean is estimated to be 11 million metric tonnes.
Dr Laura Michie, a research fellow based at the CBG told me, ‘larger plastics, especially fishing gear, is killing wildlife in the ocean, everything from whales to turtles.’ Microplastics also get ingested, moving up the trophic scale until they are consumed by humans too. Little is known at this time about the implication this will have to our health, but Dr Michie expressed concerns about how much data is required for the Government to address this issue. ‘Not that I would say changing policies is easy because it does take time and is difficult, which is why you need multidisciplinary centres like The Centre for Blue Governance, where you’ve got lots of expertise happening in one place to bring research together and implement real change.’
Dr Wood revealed ‘it’s only recently we realised how important it is for transitionary working to develop these whole-system solutions. In that sense, the Blue Governance Centre is pretty innovative and advanced in its thinking about how we tackle these issues.’
Since late 2020, Dr Michie has worked on the Micro South East Asia Plastics project (or MicroSeap). When it comes to washed-up plastic coverage along coasts and shorelines, South-East Asia is the most impacted region in the world. Alongside analysing and adjusting local policy, MicroSeap sets out to examine how much plastic there is, how it influences wildlife and eco-systems and whether local enzymes have evolved to break down the plastic.
Collaborating with the project, Professor McGeehan experiments with these enzymes at The UoP Enzyme Innovation Centre and is currently in talks with potential ‘fizzy drink’ investors seeking to scale up this nature-based solution.
Dr Michie told me ‘We’ve heard amazing things from John McGeehan, saying that there are enough plastics in the world right now for us to never have to make anymore. As long as we find the solutions to break those plastics down, we can keep remaking them.’
The University also has a number of other environmental initiatives, including Revolution Plastics, which brings together scientists, business leaders, campaigners and citizen scientists, to develop the science into practical solutions. Revolution Plastics’ most exciting development is the innovative Global Plastic Policy Centre, which was launched at COP26. By Spring 2022, the GPPC will construct an online platform, so scientists and policymakers alike can access up to date information on Global measures and practices, which the centre will have reviewed and standardised.
MSC Applied Aquatic Biology student, Eleanor Rowland researched the impacts of microplastics and macro plastics on crustaceans for her undergraduate dissertation. She revealed that there is a lot of issues with consistencies in studies and data because standards and forms of measurement are so varied. ‘One of the biggest issues I had with my project was finding many studies didn’t have a good experimental design. There was no consistency. One of my key takeaways was we need to make a more uniform study approach strategy.’ The CBG research fellows unanimously agreed.
On the successes and pitfalls of COP26, Ms Rowland explained that this is the final decade for significantly deterring climate change ‘before we reach the point of no return, where we can’t really undo it without, I don’t know, an act of God I guess.’ Dr Wood established that ‘unfortunately, a lot of these crises do require quite harsh interventions’. Dr Michie agreed; ‘Some amazing pledges were made at COP26 by lots of different countries, but we need those pledges to turn into actions.’
Ms Rowland did, however, express enthusiasm for the public engagement with The Big Microplastic Survey. ‘Citizen science data is really important because, in science, the more data you can get the better; a normal team of scientists can’t do huge scale surveys themselves.’ She was impressed with how the University of Portsmouth is addressing the climate crisis, but stressed ‘It’s great that the public is getting involved, but we’re only one organisation, there’s only so much we can do without legislative action.’ She feels that one of the most important things the public can do is lobby and campaign for this change to be made by the government and big organisations. ‘It can seem really grim at the moment and obviously, we are under a lot of time pressure to do as much as we can for the big deadline, but if everyone gets together and makes a significant change to policy, the way we behave, and manufacturing, we can still bring this back.’
