Teaching modules
MPC101: Sustainability, Recycling and Environmental Issues
Department: Materials
The Materials Department of Loughborough University has been formally teaching materials’ sustainability and recycling for nearly 15 years, in both undergraduate and post graduate modules for engineering and design programmes.
Whilst other universities’ engineering departments have struggled to include this subject in core curriculums, from its start in the early 90’s we have believed that this is an essential area of study, underpinning industrial and societal needs into the 21st Century. Therefore we have a significant lead and experience over other universities.
Our syllabus includes energy and material resources, materials recycling methods and landfill management along with environmental auditing which used to determine the best options of energy generation or materials recycling with respect to the environment.
As sustainability and recycling are affected by new legislation and therefore continual development, so the teaching syllabus has evolved to reflect these changes. Society and governmental attitudes are also integral to our teaching. Coursework has included team research projects on comparative studies of local councils’ recycling activities and most recently comparative studies of energy saving materials and equipment.
Our objective is to produce expert greens rather than the woolly greens who employ poorly researched advice often found in the media or preached by certain NGOs.
