Project description
Invisible marker for plastic waste recycling
Sorting multi-material plastic waste into pure mono-materials poses a significant challenge for achieving an efficient and cost-effective circular economy. Automatic sorting facilities can only recover a small portion of collected plastic and often produce materials with low purity. Moreover, there is currently no universal method for sorting food-grade and high-purity polymers, which limits the potential applications of recycled polymers to low-value objects. The EU-funded PRESTO project has introduced an innovative solution for post-consumer plastic waste. This involves the use of an invisible marker composed of luminescent silicon nanoparticles that polymer producers can incorporate into virgin polymers. This marker enhances the recyclability and reusability of plastic, ultimately leading to reduced treatment costs and increased value for the sorted materials.
Objective
The separation of multi-material streams into highly pure mono-material is the major issue that hinders the development of an efficient and affordable circular economy for plastics. Nowadays, automatic sorting facilities are able to sort and recover a small portion of collected plastic (≤15%) and often with low purity. Most importantly, there is no general method to sort food-grade and high purity (>99%) polymers. Therefore, recycled polymers (of which plastic items are made of) can only be used for the production of objects with a much lower value. Our solution is an invisible marker made of luminescent silicon nanoparticles.
Our business model provides advantages for all stakeholders within the plastic value-chain by giving value to post-consumer plastic that is now wasted. Polymer producers will embed our ink into virgin polymers to make plastic easily recyclable and reusable. Recycling companies will benefit of a reduced treatment cost and a higher value of the sorted material. Brand owner, retailer and logistics will then be able to finally close the loop for their packaging.
Together, with our industrial partners, we successfully demonstrated the working principle of PRESTO, and tested the technology on commercially available sorting machinery. Plastic specimens have been prepared: compatibility with the polymer and its most common additives have been assessed, as well as compliance to safety regulation for food-grade plastics.
To reach our goal, we need to engage as many stakeholders as possible into the project. The plastic industry needs high purity recycled plastics as a raw material and it needs it now. The Women Tech prize will generate the necessary momentum to make SINBIOSYS the first successful manufacturer of luminescent silicon nanomaterials in Europe.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- engineering and technology environmental engineering waste management waste treatment processes recycling
- natural sciences chemical sciences polymer sciences
- engineering and technology nanotechnology nano-materials
- natural sciences chemical sciences inorganic chemistry metalloids
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Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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HORIZON.3.2 - European innovation ecosystems
MAIN PROGRAMME
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Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
HORIZON-CSA - HORIZON Coordination and Support Actions
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Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) HORIZON-EIE-2022-SCALEUP-02
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Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
40127 Bologna
Italy
The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.