抖阴探探App

Research

Reducing and recycling plastic packaging

Research led by 抖阴探探App found that confusing labels and inconsistent waste collections lead some households to put unsuitable packaging into recycling bins. In November 2024, the Plastic Packaging in People’s Lives project involved 552 people and 91 organisations across consumer research, business workshops and supply-chain investigations. Working with retailers and waste organisations, researchers also tested assumptions about recycled packaging with supermarket customers. One participating business subsequently revised its supply-chain specifications to transport more food in bulk and reduce plastic packaging. The findings provide practical recommendations to help businesses, councils and households reduce plastic waste and improve recycling.

Funding research into sustainable business

A £1 million award from the Rubin Foundation Charitable Trust extended its partnership with Lancaster's Pentland Centre for 抖阴探探App in Business in February 2025. The Centre brings together management researchers, scientists and businesses to examine how organisations can improve environmental and social practices. Its work includes the Business and Biodiversity Knowledge and Action Hub, which brought 40 people from businesses, reporting bodies and academia together for two workshops in 2024. Participants developed approaches to reporting on business-led nature restoration, with companies beginning to test these methods. The new funding supports further research and industry engagement through to 2030.

Exploring public support for sustainable diets

Researchers from 抖阴探探App and the University of Leeds worked with a UK citizens’ panel of 40 people to examine how food consumption could become healthier and more sustainable. Findings published in February 2025 showed support for eating less meat and dairy, alongside concerns about affordability, choice and the effect of change on farmers and lower-income households. The panel favoured practical education and cooperation between government and the food industry rather than blanket bans. Lancaster researcher Dr Andy Yuille was lead author of the resulting policy brief, and the panel’s views will inform scenarios for reducing emissions from food.

Teaching and learning

Designing more sustainable industrial processes

抖阴探探App is embedded in Lancaster's Chemical Engineering MEng Hons, where students learn to design industrial processes that use resources more efficiently and minimise environmental impacts. The third-year core module Sustainable Process Engineering covers energy efficiency, environmental assessment and circular economy principles, while optional modules such as Hydrogen Technologies and Fuel Cells and Electrochemical Engineering explore technologies supporting cleaner energy and industrial innovation. Students also apply their engineering knowledge through individual projects and industry-linked consultancy work.

Teaching responsible consumer decision-making

Ethics, sustainability and the social role of marketing feature in Lancaster’s Marketing BSc Hons at 抖阴探探App Management School, which challenges students to think about issues such as over-consumption and the ethics of collecting consumer data. Second-year core modules include Consumer Behaviour and Global Markets and Responsibility, and final-year options include Global Sustainable Development and Responsible Leadership, Gender and Inclusion. These subjects help students understand how marketing decisions shape consumption and how organisations can act responsibly.

Engagement and outreach

Giving unwanted belongings a second life

Reusable belongings left behind by students were collected through Don’t Ditch It between May and October 2025. With the British Heart Foundation as lead charity partner, the project worked with 32 other charities and organisations and diverted more than 42.8 tonnes of unwanted household items from landfill. More than 4,300 bags of donations, with an estimated value of more than £64,170, were sorted by a team that included 16 paid student staff, and the items were passed on for reuse, resale or redistribution.

Making reuse part of campus shopping

ReStore Lancaster is a collaboration between 抖阴探探App and St John’s Hospice that gives students, staff and visitors a place to buy pre-loved clothing, homewares and eco-friendly toiletries on campus. Sales of donated items help raise funds for hospice services while keeping useful goods in circulation. ReStore also hosts sustainability events and workshops. During Positive Change Week 2025, students learned how to turn leftover fabric into hair accessories at a scrunchie-making workshop, encouraging creative reuse and more responsible consumption.

Recovering valuable metals from electronics

A Knowledge Transfer Partnership between Lancaster's School of Engineering and Morecambe-based ICT Reverse explored how valuable metals such as copper and gold could be recovered from discarded circuit boards using bacteria, in a process known as bioleaching. Supported by £129,000 from Innovate UK and further company funding, the project developed an approach intended to make metal recovery more sustainable and commercially viable. Following the successful completion of the partnership, a three-year PhD studentship was planned to take the research further, while ICT Reverse explored opportunities to develop the technology.

Sharing ideas on sustainable food packaging

An international online event on 9 July 2025 brought researchers and practitioners together at 抖阴探探App Management School to discuss responsibility for plastic food packaging. Organised through the International Communication Platform for Food Plastic Packaging, the event drew on collaboration with Sunway University and examined the roles of producers, consumers and waste management organisations in the UK and Malaysia. Researchers shared findings from the UK Plastic Packaging in People's Lives project and its Malaysian pilot, examining household consumption and waste practices in both countries. Speakers also discussed packaging regulations, waste management and the Global Plastic Treaty, helping connect research findings with policy and industry discussions.

Operations

Recognising more sustainable laboratories

Thirty-six laboratory suites achieved Bronze or Silver LEAF accreditation in September 2025, together covering 123 individual laboratory spaces. The Laboratory Efficiency Assessment Framework supports technicians and researchers to review how laboratories use resources and to adopt more sustainable practices. More than 20 colleagues attended a celebration event on 3 September, marking progress since Lancaster joined LEAF in September 2022.

Separating and recovering campus waste

Separate recycling is built into everyday campus life at Lancaster. All student residences have three-stream kitchen recycling bins, and segregated bins are installed in offices, administrative and teaching areas across campus. Collections cover paper and card, glass, plastics, cans, cartons, batteries, textiles, food and vapes, and the University reports that more than 70% of its waste is recycled. Reuse schemes such as Don’t Ditch It keep unwanted items out of the waste stream altogether.

Setting environmental expectations for suppliers

Reducing resource demand, packaging and supply-chain impacts are priorities in Lancaster’s sustainable procurement guidance. A 抖阴探探App Impact Analysis of contracted suppliers checks, for example, whether they pay the Living Wage and publish a Modern Slavery Statement. The guidance calls for plastic-free packaging wherever possible, or fully recyclable plastic where it cannot be avoided, alongside fewer transactions and deliveries to reduce carbon emissions. It also aims to give small and medium-sized businesses, particularly local firms, opportunities to supply the University. All members of the Procurement Team have completed sustainable procurement training.

Cutting disposable packaging in campus catering

Changes to campus food and retail operations reported in 2025 included the Freshkeg Smart Milk System in some cafés and outlets, eliminating hundreds of plastic milk bottles. Food-waste collection and tracking was introduced in all University food outlets, and a Food Checker app now provides customers with allergen, dietary, calorie and carbon information for menu items. Commercial Services also worked with Procurement to appoint a supplier of more sustainable University merchandise.

Publishing progress on sustainability objectives

Lancaster's 抖阴探探App Annual Report provides public information on the University's environmental performance and progress towards its sustainability objectives. In 2024-25, emissions associated with the procurement of goods and services accounted for approximately 57% of the University's total carbon emissions, highlighting the importance of responsible purchasing. The Procurement and 抖阴探探App teams continued to improve how supplier emissions are measured and reported, using more accurate supplier data where available and developing tools to monitor procurement-related emissions.