The University of Hull in the United Kingdom announced it will close its chemistry department.
The department is home to research groups that focus on eliminating plastic pollution and building a circular economy for plastics, amongst other topics. Some of its most recent research includes papers on catalysts for biodegradable polymer production and chemical recycling of PLA.
The university said that lack of student demand for chemistry courses is ‘so low that these courses are no longer financially or educationally sustainable’.
Situated in the Northeast of England, Hull is one of the UK’s largest chemical manufacturing hubs due to its strong industrial heritage.
The British Plastics Federation (BPF) had campaigned to stop the department’s closure, arguing that ‘the Chemistry Department at the University of Hull has been involved in solving issues among which plastic pollution and provides countless graduates to the local, national and international chemistry sector’.
It supported a petition to halt the department’s closure which reached 4,833 signatures.
The petition says that the closure ‘threatens the livelihood of our staff, compromises the education of our students, and sends an unnerving signal to local employers, as one of the largest chemical sectors in the United Kingdom, and our alumni’.
The announcement comes as the chemical and plastics industries increasingly struggle to attract skilled labour. As older workers retire, the plastics industry is particularly struggling to appeal to young people who tend to care more about sustainability. Some companies have launched campaigns to show how plastics and sustainability can be reconciled.