Ian D Williams

University of Southampton · Centre for Environmental Sciences

Biosolids are the solid by-product of the wastewater treatment system. They are regularly applied to agricultural land in the UK to fertilize and increase crop yields, but they have been shown to contain high concentrations of microplastics. Here we sampled a selection of agricultural soils in the Southeast of England which had received or never re...

The orbital debris population is rapidly growing, increasing the chance of a Kessler-style collision event. We report a novel method for the production of estimates for the total monetary value of all debris objects and total mass of all objects currently in orbit. The method was devised using debris object data from the European Space Agency’s DIS...

A long-term historical analysis of the impacts of recreational boating on marine surface water quality during a regatta (Cowes Week) in an internationally crucial waterway, the Solent Strait (Hampshire, UK) is presented. Water quality indicators studied included nitrogen concentration, bacterial indicators, and oxygen saturation, at three sampling...

E-waste is one of the fastest growing global waste streams. As e-waste accumulates scientists struggle to communicate scientific findings and concepts effectively and expediently to the public in a way that raises awareness and inspires discussions. The TRACE (TRAnsitioning to a Circular Economy with creative artists) project was a collaboration be...

Driven by the UN's Sustainable Development goals, which has identified the issue of electronic waste growing significantly and the challenges of recycling/reusing electronic components, there is a need to research new possibilities in sustainable and recyclable printed electronic devices. The change in business models and industry and consumer devi...

The automotive industry is one of the most significant and increasing sources of pollution worldwide. Previous studies examining its impacts focus on the post-1950 era as data available before this period is scarce. This study carefully reconstructs six datasets from the early 20th century to 2019 for the UK: annual number of motor cars, road lengt...

Concerns regarding the impacts of microplastics in the global environment have brought into focus the need to understand better their origins, transport, and fate. Wastewaters (WW) are important in this regard: discharges from households, commercial and industrial premises, and surface run-off deliver microplastics to wastewater treatment plants (W...

Tri-Butyl Tin (TBT) remains as a legacy pollutant in the benthic environments. Although the toxic impacts and endocrine disruption caused by TBT to gastropod molluscs have been established, the changes in energy reserves allocated to maintenance, growth, reproduction and survival of European oysters Ostrea edulis, a target species of concerted bent...

Personal Carbon Budgets (PCBs) are a radical policy innovation that seek to reduce an individual’s carbon consumption. This review identifies three archetypes of PCBs in the current literature; Personal Carbon Trading, Carbon Tax and Carbon Labelling. We theorised that carbon trading could affect equity and allow quality of life and consumption to...

Disposal via landfill has historically been the dominant method of municipal waste treatment and disposal in the European Union (EU). The EU’s Waste Framework Directive of 1975 (Council Directive 75/442/EEC) introduced the waste hierarchy into European waste policy for the first time, emphasising the importance of waste minimisation. Implementation...

Wales is one of the world leaders in household waste recycling with a steady recent recycling rate of ~65%. The Welsh Assembly Government (WAG) set a statutory target of achieving a 70% recycling rate by 2024/25. We reviewed historical trends in waste management in Wales from 2006 to 2020, with a focus on recycling. Authoritative, official data wer...

Enhanced biological phosphorus removal at wastewater treatment plants that use anaerobic digesters for sludge treatment have historically encountered phosphate precipitation problems in the form of struvite. Literature on struvite is thin which is surprising given it can foul/block the sludge return lines and associated pumps and valves, causing si...

Driven by the UN's Sustainable Development goals, which has identified the issue of electronic waste growing significantly and the challenges of recycling/reusing electronic components, there is a need to research new possibilities in sustainable and recyclable printed electronic devices. The change in business models and industry and consumer devi...

Microplastics are everywhere. Snow close to the peak of Mount Everest was found to contain on average 30 microplastic particles per litre. And 11,000m below sea level, in the Pacific Ocean’s Mariana Trench, an average of 2,200 microplastic particles per litre of sediment were found. Microplastics are bits of plastic smaller than 5mm in diameter. T...

Use of personal protective equipment (PPE) increased during the COVID-19 pandemic to reduce virus transmission. Here, we quantitatively analyse emergence of PPE and COVID-19-related litter over 14 months for 11 countries using the litter collection application Litterati. The proportion of masks in litter increased by >80-fold as a result of COVID-1...

Microplastic presence in fishmeal is an emerging research area because of its potential to enter food chains, and the importance of fishmeal within global food security. However, fishmeal is a complex medium dependant on fish composition. This study measured properties (organics, carbonates, protein and density) of five fishmeal types (trimmings, s...

The generation of Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) continues to escalate yearly because of high demand for state-of-the-art and affordable devices. This demand is particularly strong for small consumer electrical and electronic equipment whose usage cycle is waning due to fashion and technological obsolescence. As a result, there is...

If at some stage during the COVID pandemic you’ve had a face mask mysteriously disappear from your pocket, you’re not alone. From March 2020 countless discarded blue and white masks started appearing around the world. While face masks are an important protective measure against COVID-19, it quickly became clear that face mask litter was going to b...

If at some stage during the COVID pandemic you’ve had a face mask mysteriously disappear from your pocket, you’re not alone. From March 2020 countless discarded blue and white masks started appearing around the world. While face masks are an important protective measure against COVID-19, it quickly became clear that face mask litter was going to b...

News article highlighting the Right to Repair electrical and electronic equipment and its contribution to the Circular Economy. Article available here: https://www.circularonline.co.uk/features/right-to-repair-will-the-public-choose-to-reuse-e-products-for-longer/

The generation of Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) continues to escalate yearly because of high demand for state-of-the-art and affordable devices. This demand is particularly strong for small consumer electrical and electronic equipment whose usage cycle is waning due to fashion and technological obsolescence. As a result, there is...

England’s Environment Agency isn’t doing enough to protect the public from landfill gas, according to a recent high-court ruling. A judge said that five-year old Matthew Richards’ respiratory health problems were being made worse by fumes from nearby Walleys Quarry landfill site in Silverdale, Staffordshire. The judgement requires a particular land...

The Coffee industry faces a range of sustainability issues including energy demand, waste management and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. This study develops and analyses an experimental WTE proposal using an independent Coffee Company's integrated energy-waste management strategy, to achieve a circular economy (CE) system: treatment and reuse of sp...

Research on microplastics in the environment is of high interest to many scientists and industries globally. Key to the success of this research is the accuracy, efficiency, reliability, robustness and repeatability of the method(s) used to isolate the microplastics from environmental media. However, with microplastics now being found in new comple...

At the heart of the circular economy model is the reorientation of consumer behaviours away from disposing of items before they reach end of their functional life as a step towards resource efficiency and reduction of environmental impacts. One way to facilitate this change is to enable proactive redistribution of electrical and electronic equipmen...

This study focused on waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) that is incorrectly disposed of in residual waste bins. An analysis of public behaviour, motivation and general knowledge on WEEE management was undertaken in Southampton, England. All respondents were members of the People's Panel run by Southampton City Council. The potential...

Microplastics are an environmental issue of global concern. Although they have been found in a range of environments worldwide, their contamination in the terrestrial environment is poorly understood. The lack of standardised methods for their detection and quantification is a major obstacle for determining the risk they pose to soil environments....

From an urban mining perspective stockpiles of Waste of Electronic and Electrical Equipment (WEEE) by individuals represent anthropogenic stocks that could be exploited for precious and critical resources. The current challenge resides in minimising these stocks generation, as well as accessing the resources they represent. Behavioural models such...

Accurate assessment of carbon stocks remains a global challenge. High levels of uncertainty in Land Use, Land Use Change and Forestry reporting has hindered decision-makers and investors worldwide to support sustainable soil and vegetation management. Potential mitigation-driven activities and effects are likely to be locally/regionally unique. A s...

This is the pre print, the published article can be found here: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41893-021-00824-1 Personal protection equipment was adopted during the COVID-19 pandemic to reduce transmission of the virus. However, masks, gloves and wipes must be disposed of responsibly. Anecdotal accounts of litter throughout 2020 suggest an envi...

Waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) comprises a globally important waste stream due to the scarcity and value of the materials that it contains; annual generation of WEEE is increasing by 3–5% per annum. The effective management of WEEE will contribute critically to progress towards (1) realisation of the United Nations’ Sustainable De...

Global plastic production has been increasing annually since World War II and is currently 380 million tonnes. Global concern about pollution from plastics in the seas and the environmental costs of plastics manufacture is rising. This study aimed to: i) review the costs, benefits, advantages / disadvantages of plastics as packaging materials and i...

Home entertainment (HE) products are particularly rich in metals and plastics and thus have enormous potential as a source of materials from within Distinct Urban Mines (DUMs). Consumers’ end-of-life (EoL) management decisions (i.e. stockpiling, hoarding, reusing, discarding of WEEE) strongly influence the exploitation potential of a DUM. This stud...

Microplastics are contaminants of increasing global environmental concern. Estuaries are a major transport pathway for land-derived plastics to the open ocean but are relatively understudied compared to coastal and open marine environments. The role of the “estuarine filter”, by which the supply of sediments and contaminants to the sea is moderated...

Coronavirus has revealed just how fragile our waste cycle is. Globally, collection services are being reduced because of social distancing, staff absences and concerns about workers' health and safety. This is affecting the collection, sorting, processing and treatment of wastes as well as markets for materials made from recycling and composts. Fur...

The UK produces an estimated 2 Mt of waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) annually and the management of this waste has become a foremost environmental issue in the UK. Whilst the collection, transportation and treatment of WEEE contributes to climate change due to its considerable energy and material requirements, the effective recover...

Throughout Europe, populations of Ostrea edulis have been in decline since the 1970s. Temperature has an important influence on physiological, biochemical and reproductive attributes of oysters. It is also the most easily modulated environmental factor in hatcheries, so it is useful to understand the implications of temperature variation in driving...

Determine the effect on gametogenesis after exposure to TBT under laboratory conditions. • Establish the effect on sex ratio after exposure to TBT under laboratory conditions. • Determine the potential mechanism(s) of disruption on gender determination after exposure to TBT. Our results indicate that gametogenesis and sex determination in O. eduli...

Growing pace of urban living is expected to simultaneously aggravate both the waste and the energy crises. This study presents feasibility assessment of a community scale hybrid renewable energy system (HRES) utilising biomass to serve the local energy needs while reducing the household solid waste volume. A modelling framework is presented and eva...

Sub-national governments are increasingly interested in local-level climate change management. Carbon- (CO2 and CH4) and climate-footprints—(Kyoto Basket GHGs) (effectively single impact category LCA metrics, for global warming potential) provide an opportunity to develop models to facilitate effective mitigation. Three approaches are available for...

Ongoing efforts to seek better resource efficiency have highlighted the role of reuse as a contributor to achieving circular economy objectives. In order to improve resource efficiency, the motives, means and opportunities for reuse need to be understood such that best practice can be identified and measures implemented to foster more effective and...

Ports are vital to the global economy, providing a range of local, regional, national, and international benefits. However they also give rise to negative impacts, which are often concentrated within the local area. Amongst these, maritime pollution of the air and water may have considerable consequences for the environment, as well as human health...

Unconsumed food impacts on the environment via the wasteful use of resources in its production and via its disposal. Householders would ideally only generate food waste that is not considered edible (unavoidable food waste) and the disposal of edible food (avoidable food waste) would be prevented, mitigating both the environmental impacts of food w...

The development of solid waste management (SWM) has been closely related to factors that influenced waste practices in the past and have shaped contemporary waste management systems. Multiple influencing factors need to be considered if SWM is to be effective. We have identified non-measurable or “invisible” factors that are not easily quantifiable...

Collaboration between universities and external organisations offers opportunities for multiple and mutual benefits, including the development of employability skills in students. This paper outlines the educational approach taken and results achieved when under- and post-graduate students were tasked with working with a water supply and waste wate...

‘Fast fashion’ and a ‘take, make, dispose’ economy are fueling people’s accumulation of goods, and their willingness to throw these goods away. The end of each University year sees tens of thousands of students clear out their homes, and lives, and move on to pastures new, leaving behind a wake of unwanted clothing, kitchenware and bedding, amongst...

Seaweeds are established sentinels for metal contamination and are utilised for biomonitoring. Metallothionein (MT) is a protein that is induced by metal exposure, and has been widely used as a biomarker for metal pollution. MT has not been reported in spiral wrack (Fucus spiralis), but has been identified in bladder wrack (Fucus vesiculosus), wher...

Organisations of all types are significant contributors to global anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions. Currently, the carbon emissions of organisations are typically assessed through hybrid environmentally extended input-output—life cycle analysis. The design of these models means that double counting is inherent and, were all institutions to re...

This paper identifies and critically evaluates common characteristics of Love Food Hate Waste (LFHW) campaigns’ local activities through analysis of their case study reports. The paper also describes the processes required to build up this campaign in order to facilitate application of successful outcomes of the LFHW campaign in the UK to other co...

Collaboration between universities and external organisations offers opportunities for multiple and mutual benefits. This paper outlines the educational approach taken and results achieved when under- and post-graduate students were tasked with working with a waste water treatment company (Southern Water; SW) with the aim of identifying applying ci...

Waste management in developing countries has evolved from simple waste removal systems aligned with public health concerns to include high technology treatment and recovery of valuable resources and energy from the waste stream. The development of solid waste management (SWM) has been closely related to factors that influenced waste practices in th...

The development of solid waste management (SWM) has been closely related to factors that influenced waste practices in the past and has shaped contemporary waste management systems. Multiple influencing factors need to be considered if SWM is to be effective. We have identified non-measurable or "invisible" factors that are not easily quantifiable...

Collaboration between universities and external organisations offers opportunities for multiple and mutual benefits. In this case study we examine a novel coursework task that challenges students to consider and evaluate waste management in a local airport with the intention that the work thus produced sets a possible agenda for the airport to enha...

Separate household food waste collection for anaerobic digestion is one method used in the sustainable management of biodegradable municipal solid waste (MSW). Recycling of food waste contributes to the UK’s reuse, recycling and composting targets and can help local authorities boost plateauing rates whilst encouraging landfill diversion. This stud...

There are widespread concerns regarding the potential future scarcity of ferrous and non-ferrous materials. However, there are already potentially rich reserves of secondary materials via high ownership of Electrical and Electronic Equipment (EEE) in economically-developed nations. Young people are particularly high consumers of EEE, thus universit...

An increasing number of geochemically scarce metallic raw materials are entering into our lives via new technologies. A reversal of this trend is not foreseeable, leading to concerns regarding the security of their supply. However, the evaluation of raw material supply is currently hampered by inconsistent use of fundamental terminologies and incom...

There are many benefits when we reuse – political, commercial, social, environmental and economic. But even though reuse is a highly preferred process within the waste hierarchy, barriers and questions remain. Reuse is dependent on goods being collected and made available to the next user; sufficiently high quality and durable goods need to be put...