Charlotte Williams, Professor of Inorganic Chemistry at the University of Oxford, has been awarded a five-year fellowship by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (www.epsrc.ukri.org) to investigate how to make the production of plastics more environment-friendly.

The UK plastics industry employs more than 170,000 people, has annual sales of £23.5 billion and is a major exporter. Most of the plastics are sourced from petrochemicals and are not designed for efficient recycling or biodegradation.

The £1.5 million fellowship allows time for Professor Williams and her research team to investigate and develop a recently discovered chemical process — switchable polymer manufacturing — with a view to making plastics production more environment-friendly.

The long-term goal is to investigate how to re-configure polymer manufacturing to produce sustainable high-value materials. The researchers will work with industry partners and international academics.