Periodic Reporting for period 2 - CirculariseSource (Certifying recycled material while keeping market prices and allowing mass adoption)
Período documentado: 2021-09-01 hasta 2022-09-30
The CirculariseSource project certifies recycled material content, material quality characteristics and product passport data and provides a business model to companies that adjust their production or supply chain towards more sustainability.
Interest in products with transparent supply chains is rising among customers and sector leaders announce ambitious sustainability goals and pledges. Manufacturers of packaging and hard plastics are increasingly confronted with customer’s claims for recycled content. Their customers, e.g. big automotive companies have claimed to switch to high percentages of recycled materials by 2025, without a clear plan on how to do so or even certify the recycling content. 65% of procurement leaders even admit that they have only partial or no visibility beyond their tier 1 suppliers. However, the success and reputation of their brands depend on these proofs and supply chain transparency has become a crucial demand by customers which is increasingly added to the political agenda, especially in the context of circular economy, product safety, labour conditions and conflict-free sourcing in the material sourcing and production. Sustainable material manufacturers must prove that their products are sustainable. Doing so is expensive, and the process is susceptible to fraud. These barriers make manufacturers less competitive in the market, compared to their competitors without transparency claims.
Circularise Source digitises, scales and eases this process while allowing the plastics sector to continue working with the recognized certification institutions and auditors which it has been trusting for the past 30 years. At the same time CirculariseSource creates a totally new market for manufacturers that want to provide transparency, as they are now able to certify their products without requiring certified intermediaries or the cooperation of any other stakeholder in their supply chain. This decentralised, trustless system creates a competitive and dynamic market of sustainably producing manufacturers that can be contracted independently. The new level of independence encourages sustainable behaviour and makes them immediately eligible for original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) looking for sustainable material. This combination between trusted standards and a disruptive decentralised and competitive system provides a smooth transition. Scaling the technology and allowing its broad and consistent implementation is therefore crucial in order to reach sustainability and transparency across all sectors.
The objective of CirculariseSource is to boost a resource-efficient circular economy by unlocking additional revenue for material recyclers due to validatable certification of products based and enhanced supply chain transparency. The project makes recycling more profitable for recyclers, manufacturers and retailers and aims at contributing to an increase in market-share of recycled plastics.
Within the project the certification technology, Circularise Source, which had been tested in real production processes with the market leaders Domo Chemicals and Covestro before the project, has been scaled from TRL6 to TRL9.Thisl allowed not only the implementation of the technology within all product segments of existing customers, but the integration with the entire plastic supply chain of further new plastics companies like Lyondellbasel and Neste as doorstep to interdisciplinary application of plastics. This succeeded e.g. with customers like Samsonite and Philipps.
Interest in products with transparent supply chains is rising among customers and sector leaders announce ambitious sustainability goals and pledges. Manufacturers of packaging and hard plastics are increasingly confronted with customer’s claims for recycled content. Their customers, e.g. big automotive companies have claimed to switch to high percentages of recycled materials by 2025, without a clear plan on how to do so or even certify the recycling content. 65% of procurement leaders even admit that they have only partial or no visibility beyond their tier 1 suppliers. However, the success and reputation of their brands depend on these proofs and supply chain transparency has become a crucial demand by customers which is increasingly added to the political agenda, especially in the context of circular economy, product safety, labour conditions and conflict-free sourcing in the material sourcing and production. Sustainable material manufacturers must prove that their products are sustainable. Doing so is expensive, and the process is susceptible to fraud. These barriers make manufacturers less competitive in the market, compared to their competitors without transparency claims.
Circularise Source digitises, scales and eases this process while allowing the plastics sector to continue working with the recognized certification institutions and auditors which it has been trusting for the past 30 years. At the same time CirculariseSource creates a totally new market for manufacturers that want to provide transparency, as they are now able to certify their products without requiring certified intermediaries or the cooperation of any other stakeholder in their supply chain. This decentralised, trustless system creates a competitive and dynamic market of sustainably producing manufacturers that can be contracted independently. The new level of independence encourages sustainable behaviour and makes them immediately eligible for original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) looking for sustainable material. This combination between trusted standards and a disruptive decentralised and competitive system provides a smooth transition. Scaling the technology and allowing its broad and consistent implementation is therefore crucial in order to reach sustainability and transparency across all sectors.
The objective of CirculariseSource is to boost a resource-efficient circular economy by unlocking additional revenue for material recyclers due to validatable certification of products based and enhanced supply chain transparency. The project makes recycling more profitable for recyclers, manufacturers and retailers and aims at contributing to an increase in market-share of recycled plastics.
Within the project the certification technology, Circularise Source, which had been tested in real production processes with the market leaders Domo Chemicals and Covestro before the project, has been scaled from TRL6 to TRL9.Thisl allowed not only the implementation of the technology within all product segments of existing customers, but the integration with the entire plastic supply chain of further new plastics companies like Lyondellbasel and Neste as doorstep to interdisciplinary application of plastics. This succeeded e.g. with customers like Samsonite and Philipps.
Technology developments
Circularise improved usability and scale of the software as a service platform to meet corporate needs. This entailed internal bookkeeping and certification management functionalities that directly connect to the current activities of customers in providing certified proof of material content. Circularise developed the mass balance tools for ISCC certifications to expand further into the plastic industry. CirculariseSource has been exploring solutions for services on Ethereum to reduce transaction costs and carbon emissions. CirculariseSource is setting new standards in the use of decentralised systems. The technology developed in the framework of the project allows the communication of supply chain data directly without any centralised storage or database which would risk possible data leaks.
Circularises patented Smart Questioning Technology is being expanded for the broader use across harmonised digital product passports. The technology allows the direct query of a product's decentrally stored data. The functionality allows the selective communication of only the data points and specificity that is necessary for the stakeholder submitting the question.
As demonstration effort Circularise demonstrated the technology with the big brands Neste, Philipps, Arcelik, Borealis, Trinseo, Itochu, AsahiKasei, Marubeni. The demonstration validated the applicability and unique selling point of the technology for the certification of plastic materials and the respective creation of value for the users. Companies were able to create additional commercial value by proofing to end-users the certified material quantity.
Circularise improved usability and scale of the software as a service platform to meet corporate needs. This entailed internal bookkeeping and certification management functionalities that directly connect to the current activities of customers in providing certified proof of material content. Circularise developed the mass balance tools for ISCC certifications to expand further into the plastic industry. CirculariseSource has been exploring solutions for services on Ethereum to reduce transaction costs and carbon emissions. CirculariseSource is setting new standards in the use of decentralised systems. The technology developed in the framework of the project allows the communication of supply chain data directly without any centralised storage or database which would risk possible data leaks.
Circularises patented Smart Questioning Technology is being expanded for the broader use across harmonised digital product passports. The technology allows the direct query of a product's decentrally stored data. The functionality allows the selective communication of only the data points and specificity that is necessary for the stakeholder submitting the question.
As demonstration effort Circularise demonstrated the technology with the big brands Neste, Philipps, Arcelik, Borealis, Trinseo, Itochu, AsahiKasei, Marubeni. The demonstration validated the applicability and unique selling point of the technology for the certification of plastic materials and the respective creation of value for the users. Companies were able to create additional commercial value by proofing to end-users the certified material quantity.
Circularise Source provided the progress beyond state of the art foresee in the proposal:
Blockchain communication
Circularise improved the encryption technologies and communication opportunities on blockchain that proof the validity of blockchain solutions for the currently only safe and decentralised communication of data known.
Certification
CirculariseSource has demonstrated the use case and value of certification of material properties via mass balance along the whole supply chain in an easy, time-saving and value-creating way that encourages companies to produce more sustainable material and certify it unmistakably in its quantity.
Usability
The CirculariseSource project validated the use of a technology as difficult as blockchain for day-to-day operations of companies. Via smart contracts and a self-explanatory user-interface, the project made blockchain available and usable seamlessly for big corporations.
Socio-economic/ Environmental impact: Comparison of promisses made in the proposal and their level of achievement:
1. The use of the Circularise technology was to create a precedent case and enable 25% of recycled polymers globally to be certified with their technology within 5 years after the project, assuming current global expansion does not decrease. Assessment: The project developed technology that is able to handle most of the needs for a 25% role-out. Working with 5 of the 15 biggest polymer producers in the world makes it likely for the company ot reach its 25% goal as planned, 5 years after the project.
2. The traceability and certified quality of recyclate which the Circularise technology provides, assures that the now 8.5% of recyclable plastic waste can be sold as high-quality recyclate at a market price which is 10% higher compared to virgin polymer resin, and double of the current market price for uncertified recyclates. Assessment: Circularise is on track to reach this goal.
Blockchain communication
Circularise improved the encryption technologies and communication opportunities on blockchain that proof the validity of blockchain solutions for the currently only safe and decentralised communication of data known.
Certification
CirculariseSource has demonstrated the use case and value of certification of material properties via mass balance along the whole supply chain in an easy, time-saving and value-creating way that encourages companies to produce more sustainable material and certify it unmistakably in its quantity.
Usability
The CirculariseSource project validated the use of a technology as difficult as blockchain for day-to-day operations of companies. Via smart contracts and a self-explanatory user-interface, the project made blockchain available and usable seamlessly for big corporations.
Socio-economic/ Environmental impact: Comparison of promisses made in the proposal and their level of achievement:
1. The use of the Circularise technology was to create a precedent case and enable 25% of recycled polymers globally to be certified with their technology within 5 years after the project, assuming current global expansion does not decrease. Assessment: The project developed technology that is able to handle most of the needs for a 25% role-out. Working with 5 of the 15 biggest polymer producers in the world makes it likely for the company ot reach its 25% goal as planned, 5 years after the project.
2. The traceability and certified quality of recyclate which the Circularise technology provides, assures that the now 8.5% of recyclable plastic waste can be sold as high-quality recyclate at a market price which is 10% higher compared to virgin polymer resin, and double of the current market price for uncertified recyclates. Assessment: Circularise is on track to reach this goal.