Scientific Advisory Board
The Chairman
PROFESSOR GERALD SCOTT
DSc (Oxon), C.Chem, FRIC, FIMMM Emeritus Professor of Chemistry and Polymer Science, Aston University, UK.
He was elected Fellow of the Royal Institute of Chemistry (now the Royal Society of Chemistry) 1973 and Fellow of the Institute of Materials in 1978. He was awarded a Doctorate of Science by the University of Oxford in 1984 for his dissertation “Antioxidants, their Mechanisms and Role in Polymer Stabilisation” based on peer reviewed published papers. Professor Scott was awarded an IR 100 by the American magazine “Industrial Research” in 1972 for his research into “a degradable plastic that would ‘rot’ when discarded”. He was elected Fellow of the “Society of Creators” of the USSR Academy of Sciences, 1976 for the invention of biodegradable commodity plastics, and was elected Fellow of the “Materials Life Society” of Japan 1984.
Professor Scott established an internationally recognised Centre for the study of Polymer Degradation and Stabilisation at Aston University in 1967. Over 500 technical papers have been published with members of staff, research fellows and students of this Group, initially in the field of polymer stabilisation and antioxidant mechanisms but increasingly from 1980 onwards with the controlled biodegradation of commercial polymers.
Professor Scott is a member of the British Standards Institution Packaging and the Environment Committee (PKW/0) concerned with the biodegradation of polymers in the environment and is co-chairman of the Biodegradability Panel PKW/0/SC1/E1 concerned with developing a new British Standard for the biodegradation and composting of oxo-biodegradable plastics. He is also a member of PRI/82 Thermoplastic Materials Committee of BSI, and represents BSi on TC 261/SC4/WG2 Degradability and Organic Recovery of Packaging and Packaging Wastes Working Group and on TC 249/WG9 Characterisation of Degradability Working Group of the European Standards organisation (CEN).
Short List of Publications
Text books
Atmospheric Oxidation and Antioxidants, Elsevier, 1965. Became a standard text, for industrial and academic research. A completely revised second edition with the same title was published in 1993 in three volumes.
Antioxidants in science, technology, medicine and nutrition, Albion Publishing Ltd, 1997
Degradable Polymers: Principles and Applications, Editors G. Scott and D. Gilead, Chapman & Hall, 1995. Unified for the first time in a single work the biodegradation mechanisms of fossil-based (Oxo-biodegradable) and bio-based (Hydro-biodegradable) polymers. Revised edition (Editor G. Scott) Kluwer Academic Publishers) 2002.
Polymers and the Environment, Royal Society of Chemistry, 1999. A response to a request by the RSC for a “popular” book encompassing both the beneficial role of polymers in modern society and the potential solutions to waste disposal problems resulting from their use. Sets out the European legislation on the control of waste.
(b) Patents
G. Scott, British Patent 1,356,107 “New Polymer Compositions” Filed 22 July 1970
G. Scott, United States Patent 4,121,025 “Polymer Compositions”, Published October 17 1978, equivalent to above.
Basic patents on controlled degradation of carbon-chain polymers in the environment.
D.Gilead and G. Scott, US Patent 4,461,853 “Controllably Degradable Polymer Compositions” Published July 24 1984, US Patent 4,519,161 “Agricultural Process using Controllably Degradable Polymer Composition Film”
Transition metal prooxidant/antioxidant combinations.
(c) Reviews and Scientific Papers
Eggins H O W, Mills J, Holt A and Scott G (1971) ‘Biodeterioration and biodegradation of synthetic polymers’ in Sykes G and Skinner F A, Microbial Aspects of Pollution, Academic Press, London and New York, pp 267-277.
Gilead D and Scott G (1982) ‘Time Controlled Stabilisation of Polymers’ in Scott G, ed., Developments in Polymer Stabilisation-5, Appl. Sci. Publ., Barking, Chapter 4.
Arnaud R, Dabin P, Lemaire J, Al-Malaika S,.Chohan S, Coker M, Scott G, Fauve A and Maarooufi A (1994) ‘Photooxidation and Biodegradation of Commercial Photodegradable Polyethylenes’ Polym. Deg. Stab., 46, 211-224
Scott G (1994) ‘Environmental Biodegradation of Hydrocarbon Polymers” in Biodegradable Plastics and Polymers, Eds.. Y.Doi and K.Fukuda, Elsevier Science BV, 79-91
Scott G and Gilead D (1995) “Degradable Polymers in Waste and Litter Control”, in Degradable Polymers: Principles and Applications, Chapman & Hall, Chapter 13
Scott G (1997) “Abiotic Control of Polymer Biodegradation” Trends in Polymer Science, 5, 361-368
Scott G (1999) ‘Antioxidant Control of Polymer Biodegradation’ in Degradability, Renewability and Recycling; 5th International Scientific Workshop on Biodegradable Plastics and Polymers, Macromolecular Symposia, Eds.,Albertsson A-C, Chiellini E, Feijen J, Scott G and.Vert M, Wiley-VCH, Weinheim, , 113-125.
Scott G (1999) “Biodegradable Polymers”, Polymers and the Environment, Royal Society of Chemistry, Chapter 5
Scott G (May 1999) “The role of Environmentally Degradable Polymers in Waste Management”, Wastes Management, 38-39
Scott G and Wiles D M (2001) ‘Programmed-life plastics from polyolefins: A new look at Sustainability’ Biomacromolecules, 2, 615-622.
Scott G and Wiles D M (2002) ’Degradable hydrocarbon polymers in waste and litter control’ in Degradable Polymers: Principles and Applications, 2nd Edition, Edited G. Scott, Kluwer Acad. Pub., Chapter 13.
Scott G (2002) ‘Why biodegradable polymers’ in Degradable Polymers: Principles and Application, 2nd Edition, Editor G. Scott, Kluwer Acad. Pub., Amsterdam Chapter 1.
Scott G (2002) “Degradation and Stabilisation of Carbon-chain Polymers”, in Degradable Polymers: Principles and Applications, Editor G.Scott, 2nd Edition, Kluwer Academic Publishers, , Chapter 3, p. 27-50
Scott G (2002) ‘Science and Standards’ in Chiellini E and Solaro R, eds., Biodegradable Polymers and Plastics, Kluwer Academic/Plenum Pub., 3-32.
Scott G (2000) ‘Green Polymers’, Polym. Deg. Stab., 68, 1-7
Scott G (2001) “Environmentally degradable polyolefins”: When, Why and How? Expert Group meeting on Environmentally Degradable Plastics, Present Status and Perspectives, ICS-UNIDO, Trieste, 37-48.
Bonhomme S, Cuer A., Delort A-M, Lemaire J, Sancelme M and Scott G, (2003) ‘Environmental biodegradation of polyethylene’, Polym. Deg. Stab., 81, 441-452.
Scott G (2005) ‘Standards for environmentally biodegradable plastics’ in Biodegradable Polymers for Industrial Applications, Editor, R Smith, Woodhead Publishing Ltd., Cambridge, 2005, Chapter 12.
Scott G (2005) ‘Biodegradable plastics in agriculture’ in Biodegradable Polymers for Industrial Applications, Editor, R Smith, Woodhead Publishing Ltd., Cambridge, 2005, Chapter 17