Macarena Beltran

Northumbria University · Newcastle Business School

Businesses are turning to bio‐based, compostable plastic packaging as a circular economy solution to global plastic pollution. However, there is a lack of proper waste management systems for collection and processing. Through an international research initiative, a social innovation lab was undertaken in Brazil, Canada, Poland and the United Kingdo...

While social innovation labs have been gaining relevance in addressing environmental and societal issues, critical questions concerning whether social innovation labs could offer an adequate and robust methodology for reconfiguring supply chains towards achieving a bio-circular economy (BCE) remain unanswered. We conducted a case study on the bio-p...

The packaging industry's significant role in plastic production and environmental pollution underscores the need for more sustainable alternatives. Bioplastics emerge as a promising solution, yet consumer understanding of this innovative material often lags, particularly in emerging markets. This study thus aims to explore effective marketing strat...

Despite the potential environmental benefits of bioplastics, consumers remain confused regarding this innovative packaging material. One possible solution to mitigate these concerns is to introduce ecolabels to communicate this bioplastics material. This study aims to investigate the influence of ecolabel signals and other factors on the adoption a...

While firms in different industries face increasing pressure from society and regulatory bodies to address sustainability challenges, critical questions remain unanswered regarding how supply chains should prioritise processes, allocate resources, and integrate with other supply chains to develop bio-packaging products. We explore those questions b...

The chemical industry is considered indispensable for improving both the economy and the well-being of the population in many countries. However, despite making significant contributions to the global economy and society’s welfare, the chemical industry also has adverse effects on the environment and human health and safety. To minimize its negativ...

Although science diplomacy has been gaining relevance in foreign policy to solve environmental challenges, critical questions concerning what different instruments mean under the term ‘science diplomacy’ and whether science diplomacy does contribute to the progress in solving environmental issues remain unanswered. We explore those questions by lin...

Despite the rapid growth of sustainable innovations in bioplastics for packaging industries, their diffusion into established markets has so far been hampered by ambiguous and asymmetrical communication between bioplastics producers and consumers (both businesses and end consumers), particularly related to bioplastics materials and their waste disp...

The remanufacturing sector has already instigated the shift towards the adoption of digital technology, especially enabled by the progressive development of the Industry 4.0 (I4.0) technologies. However, remanufacturing systems are faced with many challenges that are not typically found in traditional manufacturing systems. Inspired by the need to...

This report presents the main findings from the second Social Innovation Lab ‘Designing Solutions’, which was held online on the 10th of June 2021 to expand on possible ‘solutions’ that challenge the norms in bioplastics packaging, identify promising solutions for rapid prototyping, and explore future pathways for improving the sustainable uptake o...

Advancement in packaging technology has played an essential role in reducing food waste and losses; however, most of this technology relies mostly on the use of plastics. Thus, there is an imminent need to think seriously about the transition towards a circular bioeconomy of innovative biobased materials with biodegradability potentials. This paper...

This paper presents a two-year-long empirical study on the effects of fabric retrofit insulation on temperature take-back in a high-rise social-housing building (23-storey block) in Newcastle upon Tyne (UK). The study has followed a quasi-experimental approach coupled with qualitative methods and examines whether temperature take-back has taking pl...

This conference presentation is based on the paper proceeding presented for the Retrofit EU conference. The paper presented a two-year-long empirical study on the effects of fabric retrofit insulation on temperature take-back in a high-rise social-housing building (23-storey block) in Newcastle upon Tyne (UK). The study followed a quasi-experimenta...

This paper presents a two year long empirical study on the effects of fabric retrofit insulation on a high rise social housing building (a 23-storey block with 157 flats) in Newcastle upon Tyne (UK). The study has followed a quasi-experimental approach coupled with qualitative methods and examines whether temperature take-back is taking place; whet...

This paper proposes the initial formulation of an activity-based model framework to model and quantify the effects of household practices on energy demand in the domestic sector. Indeed, this socio-technical research is seeking to understand the effects of two salient aspects of the interaction between energy consumption and household practices in...