Eleni Iacovidou

• PhD
• Lecturer at Brunel University London

Recent global initiatives, such as the Global Plastics Treaty, underscore the urgency for a systems-based approach to address the risks associated with plastic pollution. However, the implementation of such initiatives has often faltered due to a lack of clarity surrounding what constitutes a truly systemic approach. This study presents a comprehen...

Plastics entering the marine environment primarily originate from land-based sources, prompting significant attention on single-use plastic packaging. However, fishing plastic waste also contributes substantially to marine plastic pollution, though it is often overlooked in the literature due to the challenges in pinpointing pollution sources. This...

Since 2021, there has been a notable increase in the consumption of disposable vapes among British adults. The management of disposable vape waste lags behind, due to significant challenges associated with the complexity of the devices and their components. This study explores the prospects of recycling to foster sustainable practices in handling d...

Residual waste is a key fraction of municipal solid waste generated, yet its management is poorly understood and has gained little attention over the past years. Using London as a case study, the present study analyses the amount of residual waste collected and managed to check on how well ahead the UK is in making progress on achieving the circula...

The travel-goods industry is an essential part of the larger travel and tourism sector, but it allegedly creates significant environmental impacts due to resource and energy consumption. This study investigates the potential of the product-service system (PSS) models to promote the transition to a sustainable travel industry in the future. It explo...

Plastic has become indispensable to human ways of life across the world, yet the environmental cost of our dependence is increasingly recognized as untenable. In 2022, 175 nations resolved to work toward a legally binding agreement on plastic pollution by 2024. Yet addressing plastic pollution requires changes across the entire production chain, fr...

The travel-goods industry is an essential part of the larger travel and tourism sector, but it creates significant environmental impacts due to resource and energy consumption. This study investigates the feasibility and sustainability potential of servitisation concepts within the travel-goods industry, and the Product-Service System (PSS) models,...

Reusable packaging systems (RPS) are increasingly explored as an alternative to single-use packaging. Current research lacks focus and direction. This article defines a research agenda based on the findings of a 1-day workshop with participants actively involved in UKRI and EU funded projects for reusable packaging. Findings identify 21 Consumer an...

This publication is an extension of “Malaysia versus Waste” authored by Dr Kok Siew Ng and Dr Eleni Iacovidou, featured in The Chemical Engineer (IChemE) in July 2020 (https://www.thechemicalengineer.com/features/malaysia-versuswaste/) to cover a wider aspect of municipal solid waste management in Malaysia. This work is mostly based on literature s...

This publication is an extension of “Malaysia versus Waste” authored by Dr Kok Siew Ng and Dr Eleni Iacovidou, featured in The Chemical Engineer (IChemE) in July 2020 (https://www.thechemicalengineer.com/features/malaysia-versuswaste/) to cover a wider aspect of municipal solid waste management in Malaysia. This work is mostly based on literature s...

Residual waste is a key fraction of municipal solid waste generated, yet its management is poorly understood and has gained little attention over the past years. Using London as a case study, the study found that of the 5 Mt of residual waste reported to be managed in London, 3.5 Mt is managed via recovery operations, whereas 1.59 Mt of waste is ma...

New policies to promote the circular economy have created an urgent need for businesses and public authorities to quantify and monitor the level of circularity of materials, components and products. However, flows of materials, components and products through society are inherently complex, involving intricate value chains, many stakeholders, and i...

E-waste is one of the fastest growing waste streams in the world, paradoxically containing both hazardous components and substances which can adversely impact on both the environment and public health, as well as valuable secondary resources and raw materials that could be recovered if e-waste is processed properly. Developing countries not only la...

Polyethylene (PE) is the most widely used type of plastic food packaging, in which chemicals can potentially migrate into packaged foods. The implications of using and recycling PE from a chemical perspective remain underexplored. This study is a systematic evidence map of 116 studies looking at the migration of food contact chemicals (FCCs) across...

The production of bioplastics from food loss and waste (FLW), termed FLW-derived bioplastics, is considered an attractive alternative to first-generation bioplastics. To our knowledge, a clear understanding of the sustainability performance of FLW-derived bioplastics from environmental, economic, technical, and social aspects is still lacking. This...

The UK government has been calling for action in tackling food waste (FW) generation, to which the Hospitality and Food Services (HaFS) sector contributes substantially. Decision-making tools that inform the selection of appropriate FW management (FWM) processes in the HaFS sector are lacking. This study fills this gap by offering a conceptual deci...

Data in England suggests that food waste is still being disposed into the black bin, also known as residual waste, despite continuous efforts to promote separate food waste collection and food waste reduction practices. Furthermore, it has been anecdotally reported that 18 to 30-year-olds have the highest propensity to generate large amounts of foo...

With over 95% of BPA used in the production of polycarbonate (PC) and epoxy resins, termed herein as BPA‐based plastic materials, components and products (MCPs), an investigation of human exposure to BPA over the whole lifecycle of BPA‐based plastic MCPs is necessary. This mini‐review unpacks the implications arising from the long‐term human exposu...

Chemicals can migrate from polyethylene terephthalate (PET) drink bottles to their content and recycling processes may concentrate or introduce new chemicals to the PET value chain. Therefore, even though recycling PET bottles is key in reducing plastic pollution, it may raise concerns about safety and quality. This study provides a systematic evid...

Biowaste management presents one of the biggest challenges for the European and Commonwealth small state of Cyprus, a Mediterranean island situated in the southeast corner of Europe. On the one hand, it is widely acknowledged that biowaste treatment processes such as composting should be adopted to divert biowaste from landfills, protect the enviro...

Municipal solid waste (MSW) management that seeks to recover wasted resources and return them to the system as secondary commodities (hence, it promotes circularity in resource recovery systems) is a process instigated by recycling value chains. Recycling value chains are termed as the chain of processes (i.e., value chain activities and performanc...

This report presents the results of a rapid evidence assessment of the environmental life cycle impacts of inert/less reactive materials that might typically be expected to have minimal impact on the environment, to generate insights on where environmental improvements might be needed in England. From a material standpoint, according to the Europea...

The pace to achieving a sustainable plastics economy remains noticeably slow due to a lack of understanding on the role and importance of stakeholder dynamics in the plastic packaging system. This study aims to unpack and assess the role of stakeholders in improving plastics recycling rates and circularity in the UK, using polyethylene terephthalat...

The development and application of appropriate Circular Economy indicators is an issue that concerns both the scientific and the business community, as well as decision makers. The existing gap between research, policy and practice could be bridged by using a dynamic indicators selection approach that combines both expert and participatory practice...

The plastic system is burdened with many inefficiencies that have been exposed, and exacerbated, by the outbreak of the coronavirus (SARS-CoV2) pandemic in December 2019, widely known as COVID-19, and which threaten society's commitment to transition to a sustainable plastics economy. This perspective aims to depict the structural and systemic inef...

The UK construction sector is facing multiple challenges associated with low productivity, unreliable project delivery, poor performance, skilled labour shortages, and resource inefficiency. Modular construction has been increasingly promoted by the UK government and industry to address those challenges, and improve efficiency and productivity in t...

Circular economy (CE) is extensively discussed around the globe. Presently, discussions are mostly concerned with the importance of achieving CE and the benefits associated therewith, with the various barriers surrounding its implementation being less debated. Understanding the context in which circularity can flourish is a prerequisite in building...

Reversing the extraordinary growth in the production and accumulation of primary plastics in the environment will require collaboration across research disciplines and scales—from the chemical building blocks to product life cycles, producer and consumer incentives, and waste management. After a recent Cell Press LabLinks symposium on the topic, th...

Resources embedded in the waste streams are not properly recovered and most of them are ended up in landfills or only recovered as energy via energy-from-waste (EfW) facilities. Innovative resource recovery from waste strategies are urgently needed to maximise resource efficiency, divert waste from landfills and reduce reliance on EfW. This study p...

Around 6 million tonnes of edible food are being wasted (post-farm gate) in the UK each year. This fraction of edible wasted food is known as avoidable food waste. In a circular economy food is a valuable resource that must be captured at all stages of the food supply chain and, where possible, redistributed for consumption. This can prevent avoida...

On 30 June 2020, young scholars presented & discussed their work in a virtual forum, as a special session organized by The 15th International Conference on Waste Management and Technology (June 28–30), 2020 Beijing China. The forum convened researchers and attendees approaching innovative aspects of waste management from a variety of perspectives a...

As plastic pollution globally is gaining increased attention, the use of bio-based plastics, especially in the food packaging sector, is growing in popularity. While this move is regarded as a solution to plastic pollution, it may shift or create detrimental impacts elsewhere in the production, consumption, management system, a possibility that is...

MALAYSIA is on track to miss its 2020 targets to divert 40% of waste from landfill and increase recycling rates to 22%. According to the most recent stats available, almost 90% of waste was reportedly disposed to sanitary landfills, while only 10.5% was recycled. These targets were set out as far back as August 2005 in Malaysia’s National Strategic...

Modular Building Systems (MBS) has seen an accelerating growth in the construction sector owing to its potential advantages, such as quick erection, improved energy efficiency and less reliant on good weather over conventional construction methods. Therefore, it could be a viable solution to supporting the efforts of solving Britain's housing crisi...

This report, produced by an interdisciplinary team at Brunel University London and the University of Leeds in collaboration with Defra, analyses the plastic packaging system in England and identifies new metrics that can be used for monitoring and assessing progress in meeting targets linked to plastic packaging set by the Government. It does so by...

A Brunel University London and University of Leeds project funded by the Economic and Social Research Council in collaboration with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Plastic is a commodity that supports our modern lifestyles. Its remarkable range of properties (e.g., durability, lightweight, good barrier properties) combined with the ease of processing make plastic a sustainable alternative over other materials (e.g., glass, metals, and paper), of which production, use, and management can be more resource inten...

The use of modular building systems (MBSs) in the construction sector is increasing. MBSs enhance structural performance of buildings, quality control, and construction speed than traditional methods at a lower cost. Additional benefits can be associated with resource efficiency at both the production and construction phases, which may increase MBS...

The increasing need of decarbonising energy intensive processes has risen the demand for biomass. Biomass production, distribution and use for energy generation involve several supply chain systems of which understanding requires a comprehensive analysis of the biomass supply chain management. The present article maps the volume and diversity of re...

Recycling of post-consumer plastic waste (PCPW) is increasingly promoted as the means to achieving circular economy (CE). It converts plastic waste into a secondary material that can be fed back into the system, for use in the same or new components and products, with similar or lower functionality; hence “closing the loop”. Up until today, researc...

Running from 2015 to 2019, the Resource Recovery from Waste (RRfW) programme is a £7m strategic investment by NERC, ESRC and Defra to deliver strategic science in support of a paradigm shift in the recovery of resources from waste, driven by benefits to the environment and human health, rather than economics alone. The end-of-programme brochure ou...

Garden waste collected by, or on behalf of, local authorities (LAs) in the UK is normally managed in composting facilities, as required by environmental permitting. At composting facilities, garden waste undergoes biodegradation, a process in which aerobic microorganisms break down and digest the organic matter, producing carbon dioxide, nitrates,...

Preventing food wastage is a key element of sustainable resource management. But as food waste is still generated at high volumes, priority should be placed on its proper management as a resource, maximising sustainability benefits. This study, by integrating a multi-criteria decision analysis with a sustainability assessment approach, develops a f...

Here we investigate the increasingly complex relationship between the resource recovery practices of the UK concrete industry and ongoing low-carbon transitions taking place in electricity and steel. Reductions in UK coal-based electricity and primary steel production are reducing domestic availability of residues – coal ash and steel slag – that a...

The growing British waste management sector has consistently voiced the need to improve the quality of waste-streams and thus the value of secondary resources produced, in order to achieve higher reprocessing rates. Mismanagement of wastes that may lead to contamination and degradation of the recyclate feedstock constitutes one of the main barriers...

While attention on the importance of closing materials loops for achieving circular economy (CE) is raging, the technicalities of doing so are often neglected or difficult to overcome. However, these technicalities determine the ability of materials to be properly recovered and redistributed for reuse or recycling, given the material, component and...

This report is the outcome of a Resource Recovery from Waste mini-project led by University of Leeds. The project aimed to explore higher value applications of fibre recovered through a steam rotating autoclave, which is a form of a Mechanical Heat Treatment (MHT) process. It processes mixed municipal solid waste or materials with similar character...

The growing British waste management sector has consistently voiced the need to improve the quality of waste streams and thus the value of secondary resources produced, in order to achieve higher reprocessing rates. Mismanagement of wastes that may lead to contamination and degradation of the recyclate feedstock constitutes one of the main barriers...

Over the last 60 years plastics production has increased manifold, owing to their inexpensive, multipurpose, durable and lightweight nature. These characteristics have raised their demand that will continue to grow over the coming years. However, with increased plastic materials production, comes increased plastic material wastage creating a number...

The European Commission (EC) recently introduced a 'Circular Economy Package', setting ambitious recycling targets and identifying waste plastics as a priority sector where major improvements are necessary. Here, the authors explain how different collection modalities affect the quantity and quality of recycling, using recent empirical data on hous...

This paper presents an integrated modelling approach for value assessments, focusing on resource recovery from waste. The method tracks and forecasts a range of values across environmental, social, economic and technical domains by attaching these to material-flows, thus building upon and integrating unidimensional models such as material flow anal...

In Europe, food packaging is considered to be an important medium for preserving food and reducing its wastage. Plastic is the most widely used food packaging material in Europe, owing to its versatility and unique properties. Although the majority of plastic food packaging is made from petrochemical-based resources, new sustainability trends have...

Implications: This paper deals with the topical issue of the increasing amount of food waste generated as a direct consequence of excessive production, mismanagement, and wasteful behavior, representing a real challenge in achieving sustainability and resource efficiency. Currently, only a small fraction of food is redistributed back into the syst...

The transition to a circular economy, where the value of resources is preserved in the technosphere, must be supported by policies and operational decision making based on evidence. Existing methods used to provide this evidence (e.g. LCA, LCSA, CBA) are not robust enough to adequately address the creation and dissipation of systemic and multidimen...

Established assessment methods focusing on resource recovery from waste within a circular economy context consider few or even a single domain/s of value, i.e. environmental, economic, social and technical domains. This partial approach often delivers misleading messages for policy and decision-makers. It fails to accurately represent systems compl...

Anaerobic treatment of increased strength wastewater (WW) as a result of the use of food waste disposal units is considered to be an economically viable intervention. This is because of its potential methane generation and the production of reduced amount of sludge at low capital and operational costs. However, the anaerobic treatment performance i...

Sustainability assessment of resource recovery from waste is an important prerequisite for informed and sound decision-making. Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment (LCSA) has been developed to support this process, yet its use is still constrained by the difficulty of identifying the most relevant impact parameters. This paper, seeks to inform LCSA...

Sustainability assessment of resource recovery from waste is an important prerequisite for informed and sound decision-making. Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment (LCSA) has been developed to support this process, yet its use is still constrained by the difficulty of identifying the most relevant impact parameters. This paper, seeks to inform LCSA...

The power plant sector is adopting the co-firing of biomass and solid recovered fuel (SRF) with coal in an effort to reduce its environmental impact and costs. Whereas this intervention contributes to reducing carbon emissions and those of other pollutants related with the burning of fossil fuel, it may also result in hidden impacts that are often...

In 2010, nearly 72 billion metric tonnes (Gt) (i.e. 10-fold increase since the early 1900s) of raw materials entered the global economy (OECD, 2015), 44% of which was construction minerals (i.e. around 29 Gt (UNEP, 2016)). This vast amount of material extracted and consumed, mainly exacerbated by construction activities, is associated with environm...

Environmental protection has been a key driver of changes in solid waste management. The establishment of the revised EU Waste Framework Directive (rWFD) in 2008, emphasises the need for choosing appropriate technologies for improving the protection of human health and the environment by promoting waste prevention, reuse and recycling (European Par...

The exploitation of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) for tracking and archiving the properties of structural construction components could be a potentially innovative disruption for the construction sector. This is because RFID can stimulate the reuse of construction components and reduce their wastage, hence addressing sustainability issues i...

Interventions that focus on protecting the environment and human health, have started to be incorporated in various sectors. One such intervention is the co-firing of biomass and SRF with coal in power plants. While this intervention contributes positively to reducing carbon emissions and other pollutants from the extraction and burning of fossil f...

European Commission (EC) recently introduced a ‘Circular economy package’, setting ambitious recycling targets and identifying waste plastics as a key area where major improvements and focus is necessary. The importance of plastics as a landmark case for the circular economy is denoted by the significant report on ‘New plastics economy’ released by...

Purpose: The exploitation of smart technologies such as, Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) and Building Information Modelling (BIM) for tracking and archiving the properties of structural components, is an innovative disruption in the construction sector. It could stimulate reuse of construction components, rather than their wastage addressing...

Construction is the most resource intensive sector in the world. It consumes more than half of the total global resources; it is responsible for more than a third of the total global energy use and associated emissions; and generates the greatest and most voluminous waste stream globally. Reuse is considered to be a material and carbon saving pract...

In established linear systems the values of materials are often lost or dissipated into waste ending up in landfills. Europe is proposing a range of measures to accelerate the transition from these linear systems to a more circular economy along the full supply chain. This requires new ways of looking at traditional industrial systems and materials...

Cut flowers as a sub-sector of floriculture are showing increasing consumption patterns but information on what is happening to cut-flower waste is rather limited. The cut-flower waste produced through floriculture is an important fraction of the waste generated in the UK and needs effective management and planning. Given that the UK's cut flower c...

In seeking to understand how young people conceptualise their future in terms of sustainability, visioning and backcasting workshops were held in six European countries, as part of the CReating Innovative Sustainability Pathways (CRISP) project. Within the visioning part of the CRISP project, over 1500 ideas and suggestions were generated, which we...

There is an a priori argument that those who are affected by a decision should have a say in that decision. In terms of intergenerational equity, as well as the need to implement whatever Transition Management (pathways, trajectories) implementation is to take place, young people should therefore be included in the decision-making process, be this...

The application of anaerobic co-digestion of food waste with sewage sludge, although well established in many European countries, is still in its infancy in the UK. This process has many benefits to offer, with a successful application often associated with increased renewable energy potential, outweighing constraints associated with the variabilit...

Municipal solid waste (MSW) consists of a high proportion of biodegradable matter, which when disposed to landfill decomposes leading to the formation of gas and leachate. Concerns over the environmental impacts of landfill emissions have resulted in efforts to identify alternative management options for MSW. Food waste constitutes a significant fr...

The EU Landfill Directive requires Member States to reduce the amount of biodegradable waste disposed of to landfill. This has been a key driver for the establishment of new waste management options, particularly in the UK, which in the past relied heavily on landfill for the disposal of municipal solid waste (MSW). MSW in the UK is managed by Loca...

During a two-week intensive field campaign conducted at a background location of the Eastern Mediterranean, consecutive 10-h air samples were collected under intense photochemical conditions and analyzed for polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs). The average gas-phase concentration of total PCBs and PBDEs was 7...