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Report

Teaser, summary, work performed and final results

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - CIRC-PACK (Towards circular economy in the plastic packaging value chain)

Teaser

Summary

Plastics in general and plastic packaging in particular, have considerably and positively impacted many industries, however it has also lead through the years to an unsustainable picture in terms of natural resources an impact to the environment.

CIRC-PACK -Towards circular economy in the plastic packaging value chain- aims to develop a more sustainable, efficient, competitive, less fossil fuel dependent, integrated and interconnected plastic value chain. The project targets the packaging value chain, but also the automotive and AHP sectors.

The overall objectives of the project contribute to the main pillars of the circular economy of plastics:

1- Decoupling the chain from fossil feedstock; by exploring and developing new raw materials coming from renewable resources and waste.

2- Introducing innovative formats and reducing the negative environmental impact of plastic packaging; by improving the recyclability of multilayer and multimaterial (carboard+plastic) packaging as well as the biodegradability performance for certain applications.

3- Creating an effective after-use plastics economy; by enhancing the economics and uptake of recycling, improving recycling rates and the quality-reliability of recovered plastics for recycling.

Work performed

First 18 months of CIRC-PACK were focused on the alignment of plastic value chain stakeholders involved in the consortium, the collection of all the technical data, and the definition of the final Demo Cases (DC). The fundaments upon which the DCs will be built have been settled and a reference baseline of the current situation of tackled value chains has been described. Additionally, a new methodology has been defined to evaluate these DCs using representative and tailored indicators, Circular Economy Indicator System (CEIS). CIRC-PACK consortium worked in parallel on these innovations:
-DC-A: Demonstration of the potential of bio-based material when applied in packaging sector. Bio-based 1,4-BDO (butandiol) has been produced from AHP waste, Tetrahydrofuran (THF) has been recovered in the process and new bio-polymeric formulations have been obtained for the final packaging applications selected in the project - rigid (coffee capsules and bottles for detergents) and film (film sealing for food trays, plastic boxes, bags). These new biomaterials have been delivered to manufacturing partners for validation into final applications. First demo goods prototypes of bottles and bags were obtained and characterizations of the target and processed biomaterials and functionality test in the targeted applications have been implemented. Also an evaluation of the new compounds-biomaterials developed has been performed in terms of recyclability capacity and behaviour.
-DC-B: Development of 4 new packaging designs to improve the recycling percentage of multimaterial and multilayer packaging. Firstly, a baseline for the requirements of the material and the type of product has been defined. A new multimaterial structure has been developed to package detergent powder. To do so, a literature review on eco-design has been carried out. One of these eco-designs was selected for development and consists of a liner (on the outside), followed by multiple layers of board, followed by one layer of board with in mass additives (in contact with the detergent powder). Furthermore, multilayer structures have been developed for a film that is to be sealed on top of a tray for fresh chicken. This multilayer structure is based on a new biodegradable polymer, G-polymer, with barrier properties that meet the requirements. This material is coextruded in two different structures: a 3 layer film with a solvent-free adhesive and a 3 layer film which is laminated to create a 5 layer film. First test results of the multimaterial and multilayer structures were positive regarding the barrier properties and the end-of-life. Mock-ups are under development for further validation.
-DC-C: Demonstration of different strategies for improving conventional recycling system and to validate a new approach for recycling plastic material coming from different sectors that will boost the after-use plastic economy by means of a 100% traceability of the quality of the recycled material. Recycling technologies are being improved, a monitoring system to assess recycled material quality is being deployed, recycled material flows according to the suitability to the potential uses are being created and multisectorial products with recycled materials are being produced.
During CIRC-PACK, it is also being studied the optimization and upscaling of demo cases and circular solutions with a focus on the cross sectorial assessment. CEIS indicator results are being used to optimize CIRC-PACK model and an assessment of larger scale implications using urban metabolism approach is also being carried out.
Furthermore, a preliminary analysis of market potentials and applications perspectives has been carried out for the CIRC-PACK solutions as well as to define the most appropriate strategy for the exploitation of the results and exploitation plan, with special focus on the IPR management.
Besides, the first set of tools and materials to promote the project among the identified stakeholders within the c

Final results

The main challenges addressed during the project are devoted to the improvement of the economics and quality of recycling, , the recyclability improvement of multilayer and multicomponent packaging and the reduction of fossil resources dependency .
Regarding the expected results and their progress beyond the state of the art and, the project is currently validating the applicability of new biodegradable plastics, based on bio-based 1,4 BDO from cellulose waste from AHP recycling process in DC-A . Also the recovery of residual THF, valuable for other industries, from the process is a step beyond the state of the art and a contribution to the circularity improvement of the innovation.
In addition, new eco-designed alternatives for multilayer and multicomponent packaging with the same properties but with a less end-of-life impact have been designed and are currently in the testing and validation process in DC-B. These new formats will have an impact on recyclability improvement of a 100%, as they substitute no recyclable formats.
Finally, in DC-C the expected results are oriented to improve conventional recycling and boost the recyclability of multisectorial material in order to increase the overall recyclability rate but ensuring the quality requirements accomplishment.
In parallel, the improvement of plastic waste sorting systems performed during the project will contribute to reduce the rejected flow enhancing the recyclability of the new developments both for multimaterial packaging solutions and for multisectorial scrap.
All of these actions will be evaluated using the CEIS system developed under the framework of the CIRC-PACK project will make possible to monitor the environmental, economic and social performance of the new plastic packaging value chains.
By the achievements of these results and the use of CEIS as monitoring/optimisation tool, CIRC-PACK aims to contribute to a near zero plastics to landfill, aligned with the European targets, which might result in a new plastic packaging value chain: reduced use of fossil based plastics, increased recycling rates and reduction in landfilling.