Team:Warwick/Human Practices
March Presentation to WISB
Description:
We presented our project ideas to the Warwick Integrative Synthetic Biology department
Input:
- The department supported our project and gave us the details of people to contact in fatberg research
- Lipase activity is key to focus on for bacterial systems.
Adjustments:
- We began contacting experts in this field
- Lipase activity was looked into more to understand this biological mechanism
July Thames Water
Description:
Telephone interview with the UK’s largest wastewater service company, supplying 2.6 billion litres of drinking water to the residents of the UK per day and maintaining the largest reservoir in the UK. Thames Water began the first anti-fatberg campaign in the UK.
Input:
- Advised us on their campaign to increase public understanding on what to flush down the toilet and pour down the sinks.
- Gave us tips on what makes a successful campaign
Adjustments:
- We began designing anti-fatberg leaflets centered on the 3 P’s - flush pee, poop and paper but nothing else, and to throw oil in the bin, not the sink.
Newcastle iGEM Meet Up
Description:
We attended the UK iGEM meet up at Newcastle where we spoke to various iGEM teams and professors to understand particular problems regarding the ethics and laws of GMOs.
Input:
- Team members from other teams told us about their concerns of us using GMOs in the drains and ideas for implementation such as powders
- Teams advised us on their safety protocol and gave us advice for our SOPs
Adjustments:
- We decided to get in contact with organisations such as the European Union to better understand the implications of GMOs
- We looked at potential applications of our project in using the lipase enzyme in a powder format or bacterial use in grease traps
South West Water
Description:
Organised an online interview to better understand their campaign ‘Love your Loo’ to ban the word ‘flushable’ on wet-wipes.
Input:
- We adjusted our leaflets to advertise that wet-wipes should not be flushed down the toilets
- Supported and increased their petition to ban ‘flushable’ on wet-wipe packaging
Lanes for Drains
Description
To ensure our research would not negatively impact real people we spoke to this leading UK company that specialises in drain blockages. As well as answering our questions, they also provided us with information from their recent research into public awareness. More information on their work can be found here.
Input:
- We adjusted our leaflets to advertise that wet-wipes should not be flushed down the toilets
- Supported and increased their petition to ban ‘flushable’ on wet-wipe packaging We discovered that many people know what can and cannot be put down the sink, but that they continue pouring away waste due to "convenience".
Adjustment:
- We understood the ethics of our project are important.If we target issues that humans are already employed to solve, we need to take into account workers jobs. Should our project provide a solution, the impact should be minimised on both the environment and people.
- Confirmed our project would be useful to all people
- Started focusing on a "convenient" solution that could be used in the kitchen to make consumers' lives easier.
Integrated Human Practice
Ensuring that our project was viable and ethical was constantly at the forefront of our minds. Human practices influenced our lab work but also our public education, helping to round our project at every turn. We knew we wanted to provide a solution to fatbergs, and knew we wanted to use lipase activity using synthetic biology to create a novel bacterium to degrade fatbergs. However, we knew there were many considerations to take into account, from ensuring our project worked with public GMO policy, to making sure that drainage workers jobs were secure, we spoke to multiple spheres of society to understand that our biological solution had to be supported by preventing fatberg formation through public engagement and education.
Click on the boxes below to see how our journey into the sewers was shaped by the various organisations and individuals we spoke to!
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