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Upcycling of PE and PET wastes to generate biodegradable bioplastics for food and drink packaging

Project description

New strategies for sustainable management of plastic waste

Plastic waste is a huge danger to the environment and a large contributor to climate change, with plastic packaging representing up to 60 % of plastic waste in Europe. It has become a serious issue concerning both waste management and potential environmental repercussions. The issue has reached such levels specifically due to the use of polyethylene (PE) and polyethylene terephthalate (PET) in plastic, which makes its sustainable management a difficult challenge. The EU-funded upPE-T project aims to overcome this challenge by developing PE and PET upcycling using enzymatic technologies, and later use the products obtained from this biological degradation to produce bioplastics for food and beverage packaging.

Objective

The upPE-T project aims upcycling recalcitrant oil-based plastics by bioconversion into biodegradable bioplastic for food and drink packaging production.
Plastic packaging, which make up nearly 60% of the total plastic waste in Europe, is highly problematic from a waste management- and environmental- point of view due to their durability and resistance to degradation. Polyethylene (PE) and Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) are the leading plastic use in food and drink packaging (43% PE and 19% PET). The sustainable management of this plastic waste has become a very challenging problem for global society.
In upPE-T we will include sustainable strategies as an alternative for plastic chemical degradation. The consortium will improve PE and PET depolymerization through enzymatic engineering to positively impact food and drink packaging recycling rate and achieving the European Union expected impact. In upPE-T we will turn PE and PET waste streams via enzymatic degradation and microbial assimilation into raw material for the production of biodegradable bioplastics. In addition, we will simplify the downstream bioplastic recovery process from cell biomass using an efficient and green extraction approach in which toxic solvents are not used. Finally, together with customers and food and drink brand owners, bio-based end-packaging will be demonstrated and validated to ensure fast market deployment.
Additionally, in order to ensure 100% of PE and PET recyclability, plastic rejections not optimal for microbial bioconversion into bioplastics will be valorized by their use in building applications instead of be sent to incineration or landfilling.
upPE-T will be an important part of the actions for compliance with the European Strategy for Plastics in a Circular Economy.

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Keywords

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Programme(s)

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Topic(s)

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Funding Scheme

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RIA - Research and Innovation action

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Call for proposal

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(opens in new window) H2020-NMBP-TR-IND-2018-2020

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Coordinator

ASOCIACION EMPRESARIAL DE INVESTIGACION CENTRO TECNOLOGICO DEL CALZADOY DEL PLASTICO DE LA REGION DE MURCIA
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.

€ 778 187,50
Address
AVENIDA EUROPA 4 5 POLIGONO INDUSTRIAL LAS SALINAS
30840 Alhama De Murcia
Spain

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SME

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

Yes
Region
Sur Región de Murcia Murcia
Activity type
Research Organisations
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.

€ 778 187,50

Participants (20)

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