Periodic Reporting for period 1 - PRIMUS (Reforming secondary plastics to become the primary raw material choice for added-value products)
Periodo di rendicontazione: 2022-05-01 al 2023-10-31
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 and 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 has 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 actively engage with the plastics value chain stakeholders and innovatively develop novel methods and technologies to significantly increase the circularity, production and use of sustainable, safe and quality recyclates in added value products as well as transparency of the value chain by focusing on traceability. PRIMUS will validate the developments by producing 4 PRIMUS Demo cases where new added value products will be made from recycled and upgraded nonrecycled or underutilized plastic waste streams. The Demos will support the plastics sector in boosting use of recycled plastics in new products and increasing the added-value loops of recycled plastics by fundamentally addressing the quality and safety requirements. PRIMUS will not only technically and industrially support the uptake of recycled materials in products, but will also address the concerns of the society and support the uptake of products that have recycled content.
The industry is lacking standards and has 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 actively engage with the plastics value chain stakeholders and innovatively develop novel methods and technologies to significantly increase the circularity, production and use of sustainable, safe and quality recyclates in added value products as well as transparency of the value chain by focusing on traceability. PRIMUS will validate the developments by producing 4 PRIMUS Demo cases where new added value products will be made from recycled and upgraded nonrecycled or underutilized plastic waste streams. The Demos will support the plastics sector in boosting use of recycled plastics in new products and increasing the added-value loops of recycled plastics by fundamentally addressing the quality and safety requirements. PRIMUS will not only technically and industrially support the uptake of recycled materials in products, but will also address the concerns of the society and support the uptake of products that have recycled content.
The project achieved significant milestones across various domains. A comprehensive legislative review was completed coupled with stakeholder interviews and workshops highlighting both barriers and opportunities at the EU level. Simultaneously, efforts were directed towards reviewing the PRE1000 strategy and initiating the process of developing the PRE1000 method as an EN-standard. Chemical analysis is on-going to validate the representativeness of PRE1000.
For the development of robust sampling methods, 4 sampling scenarios were generated and their reliability evaluated. The aim is to evaluate the impact of these methods on analysis.
Overall, the project delved into the analysis and characterization of over 60 different samples, leading to the formulation of a comprehensive protocol for semi-quantitative to fully quantitative analysis.
Progress was also made in identifying the degradation level of plastic waste feedstock, with promising results showcasing the feasibility of assessing the degradation degree in ABS and HIPS through hyperspectral imaging.
Regarding the debromination methods, three innovative approaches (utilisation of supercritical CO2, deep eutectic solvents, and catalytic debromination) were developed. These approaches demonstrated at least a 50 % extraction efficiency of brominated flame retardants (BFRs), efficiency even up to 95 % was reached. These methods were scaled to TRL4 and all show potential for further scale-up.
The PRIMUS DEMO cases, functional recipes were crafted for each DEMO, striving to reach optimal recycled content levels:
DEMO 1 achieved 80-90% recycled content, with ongoing work to enhance paintability.
DEMO 2 developed 23% recycled content in r-PP and r-EPDM, with plans for a monolayer hose.
DEMO 3 reached 50-60% recycled content, undergoing food safety tests for a full-scale thermoformed liner.
DEMO 4 achieved 20% recycled content, with plans for the first prototype.
The project's focus on traceability involved assessing specific data needs for a PRIMUS-specific Product Datasheet or digital product passport, along with initiating the integration of a decentralized blockchain system for traceability. Noteworthy developments in the CIRCULARISE blockchain system included tools for customer corrections, sector-specific tools, and benchmarking traceability mechanisms for mechanical recycling.
In regards for the sustainability assessments, the project developed a System Dynamics model for products with plastic recyclate content, incorporating variables beyond a standard Life Cycle Assessment. Additionally, the ecoinvent database was adapted for plastics littering assessments, reflecting the project's commitment to holistic sustainability considerations.
For the development of robust sampling methods, 4 sampling scenarios were generated and their reliability evaluated. The aim is to evaluate the impact of these methods on analysis.
Overall, the project delved into the analysis and characterization of over 60 different samples, leading to the formulation of a comprehensive protocol for semi-quantitative to fully quantitative analysis.
Progress was also made in identifying the degradation level of plastic waste feedstock, with promising results showcasing the feasibility of assessing the degradation degree in ABS and HIPS through hyperspectral imaging.
Regarding the debromination methods, three innovative approaches (utilisation of supercritical CO2, deep eutectic solvents, and catalytic debromination) were developed. These approaches demonstrated at least a 50 % extraction efficiency of brominated flame retardants (BFRs), efficiency even up to 95 % was reached. These methods were scaled to TRL4 and all show potential for further scale-up.
The PRIMUS DEMO cases, functional recipes were crafted for each DEMO, striving to reach optimal recycled content levels:
DEMO 1 achieved 80-90% recycled content, with ongoing work to enhance paintability.
DEMO 2 developed 23% recycled content in r-PP and r-EPDM, with plans for a monolayer hose.
DEMO 3 reached 50-60% recycled content, undergoing food safety tests for a full-scale thermoformed liner.
DEMO 4 achieved 20% recycled content, with plans for the first prototype.
The project's focus on traceability involved assessing specific data needs for a PRIMUS-specific Product Datasheet or digital product passport, along with initiating the integration of a decentralized blockchain system for traceability. Noteworthy developments in the CIRCULARISE blockchain system included tools for customer corrections, sector-specific tools, and benchmarking traceability mechanisms for mechanical recycling.
In regards for the sustainability assessments, the project developed a System Dynamics model for products with plastic recyclate content, incorporating variables beyond a standard Life Cycle Assessment. Additionally, the ecoinvent database was adapted for plastics littering assessments, reflecting the project's commitment to holistic sustainability considerations.
PRIMUS has successfully developed and started the scale-up of technologies for debromination and efficient plastic waste upgrading, supporting the positioning of European plastics value chains as leaders in the circular plastic economy. The project has taken underutilised or non-recycled plastic waste streams and shown promise to be used in high performing applications. The 4 PRIMUS Demo cases have already started to show their vital role in validating the successful utilisation of recyclates in added value products.
Overall, the work in PRIMUS aims to create resilient, sustainable, and secure plastics value chains in the EU, whilst integrating social sciences, humanities, and cross-sectoral cooperation. The work into different stakeholder personas is important to understand the varying specific interests and perspectives of different stakeholders. Launched stakeholder analysis with the initial focus of citizen and consumers. Carried out secondary analysis of social surveys and also new surveys in 4 countries are prepared and currently in the field. First set of tools have been prepared for stakeholder engagement, including communication messages and action research design.
Overall, the work in PRIMUS aims to create resilient, sustainable, and secure plastics value chains in the EU, whilst integrating social sciences, humanities, and cross-sectoral cooperation. The work into different stakeholder personas is important to understand the varying specific interests and perspectives of different stakeholders. Launched stakeholder analysis with the initial focus of citizen and consumers. Carried out secondary analysis of social surveys and also new surveys in 4 countries are prepared and currently in the field. First set of tools have been prepared for stakeholder engagement, including communication messages and action research design.