Descrizione del progetto
Verso un’economia circolare dei rifiuti di plastica
Nell’Unione europea si producono ogni anno 25,8 milioni di tonnellate di rifiuti di plastica, sufficienti a riempire 2 milioni di camion della spazzatura. Tuttavia, solo un terzo di questi rifiuti viene riciclato, mentre il resto finisce in discarica o viene incenerito. In questo modo si perdono materiali preziosi: si stima che il 95 % del valore dei materiali di imballaggio in plastica (70-105 miliardi di euro) vada perso ogni anno per l’economia dopo un ciclo di primo utilizzo molto breve. In questo contesto, il progetto PRIMUS, finanziato dall’UE, aumenterà la resilienza delle catene di valore della plastica dell’Unione garantendo l’approvvigionamento di rifiuti plastici come materia prima. Affrontando una delle maggiori sfide identificate nel Piano d’azione dell’UE per l’economia circolare, ovvero «come eliminare efficacemente e con sicurezza il bromo dalle sostanze pericolose utilizzate nella plastica», PRIMUS contribuirà a far circolare i flussi sottoutilizzati o non riciclati.
Obiettivo
Polymers are one of the most used materials in different applications, especially in consumer goods like electronics, and the consumption is only expected to rise globally. In Europe, 25,8 million tonnes of plastic waste is generated annually and less than 30 % is collected for recycling and significant shares are exported from EU to be treated elsewhere. Landfilling (31 %) and incineration (39 %) of plastics is high (together 70 %), and by these treatment options the valuable materials are lost from circulation. It is estimated that 95 % of the value of plastic packaging material, between 70-105 billion EUR, is lost annually to the economy after a very short first-use cycle. The industry is lacking standards and main barriers for efficient uptake of recyclates are due to safety concerns, low quality, and recycling rates. PRIMUS activities will increase the resilience of EU's plastic value chains by securing supply of waste plastics as feedstock and increasing its availability through connecting value chain actors, developing methods to control quality, sampling, and analysis, and improving upgrading knowhow and characterize suitability towards added-value products. PRIMUS will prove legislative compliant, privacy-preserving, cost-efficient and feasible technological pathways for tapping into non-recycled or underutilized plastic waste streams. Validated business cases will lower the risks of future investments into European manufacturing capacity. PRIMUS will address one of the core challenges identified in the EU Circular Economy Action Plan, the presence of hazardous substances (brominated flame retardants) and how to effectively and safely debrominate the waste streams for new product use. PRIMUS will contribute to circulating underutilised or non-recycled streams and create further impact by supporting additional production of 0,2 Mtonnes of rHIPS, rPC/ABS, rEPDM and rTPE, which is approximately 6 % of the expected growth of European recyclate market 2018-2024.
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HORIZON-RIA - HORIZON Research and Innovation ActionsCoordinatore
02150 Espoo
Finlandia