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Project title

Plastics use in Irish homes

Primary Funding Agency

Environmental Protection Agency

Co-Funding Organisation(s)

n/a

Lead Organisation

Voice of Irish Concern for the Environment (VOICE)

Lead Applicant

Abigail O'Callaghan Platt

Project Abstract

The proposed research will develop a citizen science protocol for use in Ireland with the aim of raising awareness of the risks of plastic waste and leading to plastic waste reduction. Two forms of the protocol will be developed; one for use in households and one for use in schools as part of a larger educational tool kit. The citizen science protocol will take the form of a technology mediated plastic waste auditing tool. The tool will be initially developed in conjunction with a focus group. Following development of the tool and associated information pack and educational toolkit the protocol will be trialled on 50 demographically representative households, and ten co-educational schools (5 primary and 5 secondary). The tool and the protocols surrounding its use will be optimised for ease of use and effectiveness based on the analysis of the trial data and the feedback gathered from the households and schools. This optimisation will result in the production of a finalised technology mediated citizen science protocol for use in Irish households and schools. The expected outputs of the research are as follows: - Final report, synthesis report and dissemination 2 pager for policy makers - Two peer reviewed papers to communicate findings to the research community - One conference presentation to communicate with policy makers and the research community - Two newspaper articles, project updates in the Voice newsletter, a dedicated webpage on the Voice website, project updates on Voice social media (Instagram, Twitter and Facebook), a dedicated Twitter account for the project, and a project hashtag to inform the public of the research and engage their interest - An educational toolkit for use in green schools and an information pack for households, both of which include a technology mediated citizen science plastic waste auditing tool. - Increased citizen science capacity within the Irish public, increased awareness of plastic waste issues in the public and school pupils, increased plastic waste recycling and decreased plastic consumption in project participants.

Grant Approved

�87,236.88

Research Hub

Sustainability

Research Theme

Socio-Economic Considerations

Start Date

02/01/2019

Initial Projected Completion Date

01/01/2020