Skip to main content
Go to the home page of the European Commission (opens in new window)
English English
CORDIS - EU research results
CORDIS

Manufacturing of biodegradable and compostable packaging nets through a conventional one-step extrusion process

Objective

European demand for plastic in 2014 was 47.8 M tonnes, of which 90% came from non-renewable sources. Moreover, 25.8 M tonnes of plastics ended up in the rubbish, with 30.8% completing their life cycle in landfills. Suitable sites for landfill across Europe are running out and public concerns are increasing about the impact of landfill on the environment and health. Reducing the quantities of waste that ultimately ends up in landfill has become imperative in the EU (Landfill Directive 1999/31/EC) and represents a particularly difficult task to achieve. Recycling is one of the most important actions currently available to reduce the impact of waste and plastic production. However, some packaging items such as nets (e.g used to package potatoes, oranges) are not suitable to be treated in recycling facilities as they are difficult to be cut and get entangled in the sorting equipment ending up as waste in landfills. One possible solution is the development of biodegradable and compostable materials that could be processed through extrusion melt spinning (EMS) to manufacture these nets. Some advances have been made in this area but the high price of the final packaging product make these alternatives economically unviable. Ecoplas, a spanish manufacturer of packaging nets has come up with a solution: Biopacknet. Biopacknet will be the first packaging net with improved physical characteristics that will be processed through conventional EMS, saving energy, quantity of material and above all at a competitive cost. Biopacknet will turn into compost when it reaches its end of life, giving life to plants that will become raw materials for biopolymers in Biopacknet's formulation, closing the loop to a circular economy. With sales of 1312 tonnes of packaging net, a turnover of €5,5M and 8 new jobs created in just 3 years of commercialization Ecoplas will be able to double its revenue in just 6 years while helping businesses adopt more sustainable practices in the EU.

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.

You need to log in or register to use this function

Programme(s)

Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.

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.

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.

SME-1 - SME instrument phase 1

See all projects funded under this funding scheme

Call for proposal

Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.

(opens in new window) H2020-SMEInst-2016-2017

See all projects funded under this call

Coordinator

ECOPLAS BARBANZA SL
Net EU contribution

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.

€ 50 000,00
Address
LG FREIXO-POSTMARCOS
15948 POBRA CARAMI (A CORUNA)
Spain

See on map

SME

The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.

Yes
Region
Noroeste Galicia A Coruña
Activity type
Private for-profit entities (excluding Higher or Secondary Education Establishments)
Links
Total cost

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.

€ 71 429,00
My booklet 0 0