material value

At the end of June, I attended a fascinating conference held at the University of Portsmouth. PlasticsFuture 2023 was convened over three days and brought together speakers from across the world to present their research around, and experiences of, plastics pollution. The team behind the conference...

Decarbonisation is a theme in our current exhibition, Reuse . Carbon footprints are a measure of the amount of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases released over the full life cycle of a product. They are notoriously difficult to assess because there are many factors that need to be considered...

The concept of Design for Disassembly was first introduced in the early 1990s. It advocates for the environment by recommending products be designed in such a way that they can be easily taken apart at the end of their useful life, with parts then either reused or recycled. In practice this could...

In 1995 Dyson launched the Recyclone, the first vacuum cleaner to be made entirely of recycled plastics (refer image below). The DC02 Recyclone Image credit: https://www.dyson.co.uk/james-dyson/invention-a-life/07 Initially the cleaners were made from waste materials of the DC01 and DC02...

The collection of household plastics for recycling through the UK’s Local Authority bin collection service began exactly twenty years ago with the introduction of the 2003 Household Waste Recycling Act. Looking back, it now seems crazy that up until that point, we had all been throwing our plastics...

Since the introduction of the first disposable hot drinks cups by American company DART in the mid 20th century, the consumer has become used to the concept of single-use. Dart Manufacturing Company was established in 1937 in Mason, Michigan, USA making plastic key cases, steel tape measures and ID...

As a museum curator of a small museum, I find that my work each week can be varied and extremely interesting. This last week has been full of working out budgets for the coming year, thinking about new acquisitions, updating object records, and thinking about our next exhibition. I have also been...

My favourite object from the ‘In a crisis’ case within MoDiP’s current exhibition, Endurance, is the rather plain looking latrine slab. Easily overlooked, it is actually a very important structural design solution to the problem of providing toilet facilities for the humanitarian sector. AIBDC...

We recently acquired this lovely pair of celluloid heels (refer image below). Image credit: Katherine Pell They consist of a wooden heel that has been covered by a thin layer of black coloured cellulose nitrate (celluloid), which has then been decorated with paste stones and metal granulation...

When we began planning for the Endurance exhibition, we considered many different environments a person might find themselves in and how plastics materials can help them to survive in those particular conditions. For example, we wanted to examine difficult situations such as exploring the Arctic...

Anya Hindmarch founded her business in London in 1987. The luxury brand is now known for its ground-breaking work in sustainability. It is committed to creating responsibly, and striving to innovate to reduce its impact on the earth, whilst also using its platform to drive education and discussion...

One of the cases in our current exhibition, Endurance , looks at what workers in a coldstore need to keep them at a healthy body temperature. Hot and cold working spaces are assessed for risk under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974. Under this act, organisations and companies are expected to do...