21. May 2021

Meet our partners: MMU

The BIO-PLASTICS EUROPE Partner Introduction series goes on. Today, you can read more about the Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU), our project partner in the UK.

Pictured: John Dalton Building (home to the Faculty of Science and Engineering). Courtesy of the Manchester Metropolitan University

Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU) has received the title of UK’s Greenest University in 2017. The city has a rich industrial legacy, so much the University has established PrintCity in 2018, an additive and digital manufacturing centre which is home to experts, designers, engineers and students. PrintCity is also the home of the BIO-PLASTICS EUROPE (BPE) team at MMU.

The MMU BPE team is engaging with stakeholders across the value chain to understand what specific concerns they have regarding the safe use and end-of-life management of bio-based and biodegradable plastics. They are reviewing and assessing related standards, directives, and regulations and are helping the project develop recommendations and policy briefs to inform the EU policy.

The team consists of Prof. Craig Banks who has numerous years of academic research and is the Project Lead within MMU; Mr. Alan Dempsey, experience Project Manager; Dr Carly Fletcher, Project Operational Lead, responsible for the research into the safety aspects of bio-based and biodegradable plastics. She is the main MMU face within the project. Finally, Dr Rhiannon Hunt, Circular Economy Project Manager, fulfils a supportive role.

MMU’s team was unable to get together for a group picture due to the pandemic, but they came up with this visual representation of their work together!

The BPE team at MMU