Fiona kicks off season 2: Our Oceans, with Paula Duffy, a scientist who has hung up her lab coat in favour of another mission, to make science accessible to the masses. 

Paula’s working with up and coming Scottish Biotech company, CuanTec as they put our nation’s seafood waste to good use: Creating a sustainable alternative to plastic from the mountains of discarded shells left by seafood processors.   

Paula helps Fiona to explore the frustrating issue of ever-increasing volumes of plastic pollution winding up in our oceans and together they take a deeper look into why recycling isn’t the answer. 

Thanks to Paula we cover a lot of science in this episode with none of the jargon or head-scratching. 

Links to all things discussed:

CuanTec - Find out more about CuanTec’s mission to create waste saving bioplastics.  

Breaking the Plastic Wave Report - The report where Paula takes her reference for, “11 million metric tonnes of plastic entering the ocean each year, and increasing!” The report is a comprehensive look at the different options available to us to end the issue of plastic pollution.

European Marine Science Park - This hub of experimentation in marine science is where CuanTec call home. 

Industrial Biotechnology Innovation Centre (IBioIC) - An entity to drive forward and support development for Scotland’s Biotechnology industries. IBioIC connects industry, academia and government and facilitates collaborations, provides scale-up capabilities, creates networks and develops skills.

Scottish Enterprise - Scotland’s primary provider of free enterprise support. 

Highlands and Islands Enterprise -  Similar to Scottish Enterprise but tailored to the needs of our business community in the highlands and islands. 

Scottish Edge - An annual competition to identify and support Scotland’s entrepreneurial talent. CuanTec are winners from 2017.  

Sky Ocean Ventures - a £25 million investment fund set up the media giant, Sky, supporting business solutions that will put an end to ocean plastics. 

John Lewis JLab Innovation - A partnership programme set up by John Lewis & Partners to get innovative retailing ideas from business concept to shop floor. 

Paula’s podcast recommendations - Table Manners Jesse Ware’s podcast exploring food with her mum and celebrity guests. Paula’s second recommendation was science podcast, Science Vs which takes a different scientific topic in each show and explores the boundaries of what’s possible.