The project “Developing and implementing sustainability-based solutions for bio-based plastic production and use to preserve land and sea environmental quality in Europe” (BIO-PLASTICS EUROPE) delivered sustainable strategies and solutions for bio-based plastics production in support of the EU-Plastic Strategy and a circular economy, taking into account the complex and dynamic processes of societal transformation triggered by a new awareness of the use of bio-based plastics. Using the opportunity which emerges from grounded participatory research and innovation process, BIO-PLASTICS EUROPE focused on innovative product design, health and safety standards, end-of-life solutions, and environmental and economic assessments of the life cycle of products. An additional contribution to more sustainable circularity, was to develop business models for the efficient reuse and recycling of bio-based plastics, while ensuring the safety of recycled materials for the environment and humans.
During the 52 months of project duration, all six specific objectives identified below have been successfully fulfilled.
1 - to define, test and deploy innovative product design strategies and to pursue specific Innovative Business Models based on these strategies, targeting efficient reuse and recycling approaches and solutions for bio-based plastics, including those required to ensure the health and safety of recycled materials when used for toys, packaging foodstuffs and shipping, fishing, and aquaculture equipment.
2 - to map current waste collection and management schemes as well as recycling inefficiencies, identifying, listing, and addressing some of the technical and economic barriers to bio-based plastics recycling as regards established and/or alternative recycling options, also including safety and impacts on ecosystems and define key priority areas for enhancing waste collection and management.
3 - to investigate the potential impacts of bioplastic on the terrestrial and aquatic environments, including on flora, fauna and possible implications to human health.
4 - to build a biodegradable plastics sustainability framework, also by producing a “Bioplastic Safety Protocol” (as a reliable means to ensure the safety of bioplastic materials), and by a mapping focusing on the applications where biodegradable and compostable solutions could support public policies.
5 - to develop Innovative Business Models facilitating efficient reuse and recycling strategies and solutions, creating a better framework for systemic innovation and uptake of results through broad stakeholder engagement, improving the professional skills and competencies of those working and being trained to work within the blue economy and the bioeconomy, through the execution of a set of training activities.
6 - to design, test, and deploy a coordinated communication strategy and the related tools for cooperative knowledge sharing of Best Practices and Lessons Learned.
