Project description
Towards a circular plastic waste economy
In the EU, 25.8 million tonnes of plastic waste are generated annually – that is enough to fill 2 million garbage trucks. However, only a third of that amount is recycled. The rest is buried in landfills or is incinerated. As such, valuable materials are lost: it is estimated that 95 % of the value of plastic packaging materials (EUR 70-105 billion) is lost annually to the economy after a very short first-use cycle. In this context, the EU-funded PRIMUS project will increase the resilience of the EU's plastic value chains by securing the supply of waste plastics as feedstock. By addressing one of the biggest challenges identified in the EU Circular Economy Action Plan – how to effectively and safely debrominate the hazardous substances used in plastics – PRIMUS will contribute to circulating underutilised or non-recycled streams.
Objective
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 ActionsCoordinator
02150 Espoo
Finland