“Working together, by understanding and harmonising our methods, we can build a holistic approach to end plastic pollution once and for all.”

Dr Joshua Cottom is a Post-Doctoral Research Associate at the University of Leeds specialising in solid waste management systems and plastic pollution. Josh has led the technical development of several influential plastic pollution quantification models; including creating a local-to-global emissions inventory (SPOT model), a rapid city-level quantification toolkit (Waste Flow Diagram) applied in over 100 cities to date, and a detailed plastics assessment model (ISWA Plastic Pollution Calculator). He also works towards the harmonisation of methodologies by contributing towards the UNEP GPML Community of Practice on Plastic Pollution Data harmonisation, and by producing the World Bank PLAST toolkit for matching plastic pollution methodologies to user needs and resources.