CENTS co-lead Dr Evi Petavratzi (British Geological Survey) is co-author on a recent paper entitled 'Greater circularity leads to lower criticality, and other links between criticality and the circular economy', published in Resources, Conservation & Recycling.

In this perspective paper, the authors detail potential options to mitigate criticality through a move towards a more circular economy, for example recycling, design choices, and circular economy models with shorter loops that consider long-term planning, trade-offs and logistics of materials and products.

An article entitled 'Motivating actions to mitigate plastic pollution' by CENTS Co-Lead Prof Steve Evans (Institute for Manufacturing, University of Cambridge) was one of the 50 most viewed Nature Communications Earth and Planetary Sciences articles published in 2019.

The article proposes going beyond economic arguments to successfully motivate mitigation action to reduce pollution, for instance in the context of plastics. To design more effective policy interventions, the authors suggest improving theoretical understanding of behavioural incentives (eg. time, effort, and convenience). For instance with plastic packaging, consumer behaviour suggests that applying circular economy principles (refillable and easily recyclable) could reduce the plastic required by 20% and lead to material savings of $9 billion.

Similar behaviour benefits must be considered when addressing the challenge of sustainable transport.

As part of the CENTS project, we are keen to take a collaborative approach which will bring together a breadth stakeholders, to include behavioural scientists as well as engineers, environmentalists, policy makers, industries, and users.

Click to read the full article

Find out more about our CENTS Research Strands (including Circular Economy Decisions and Circular Economy Transitions)