One Bin to Rule Them All is a three-year project funded by a UK Research and Innovation Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund Grant on Smart Sustainable Plastic Packaging. Bringing together material scientists with social science and business models, the project uses an interdisciplinary approach to tackle the issue of plastic recycling. The initiative won a 2024 Making a Difference Award for its outstanding contribution to social and environmental impact through entrepreneurship.

The project aims to improve plastic recycling by developing ‘One Bin’ to hold all plastic-like items. The team is working with stakeholders from across the plastics supply chain to improve recycling infrastructure to create more usable recycled plastics that can be fed back into a circular economy. Simplifying plastic recycling for consumers and retaining value within plastic packaging waste streams, their work aims to eliminate plastic from being released into the environment.

From mapping household contamination to influencing UN Plastics Treaty negotiations, the team enables improved recycling outcomes across supply chains. The project has had a substantial impact on industry practice, local policy, public perceptions and international perspectives on plastic waste management. The innovative Materials Hierarchy has now been adopted by 14 industry partners and trade bodies across the UK, USA, and EU.

Prof Mike Shaver, Principal Investigator & Materials Lead, said: “The One Bin project allowed us to link social practice, materials science and economic barriers together for the first time. We could then see value clearly – both the opportunity for value to be created through recycling and for it to be lost if we don’t join the system up.”

He continued: “It’s an honour to receive a Making a Difference award for the project, but equally exciting to hear about all the other exceptional things we do at our university to create a sustainable future.”

For more information:

• Read this article or watch a short video about One Bin To Rule Them All
• Visit the Sustainable Futures website
• Email one.bin@manchester.ac.uk