CIRC-PACK - TOWARDS CIRCULAR ECONOMY IN THE PLASTIC PACKAGING VALUE CHAIN

DESCRIPTION
i) Decoupling the chain from fossil feedstock,
ii) Develop new formats and reducing the negative environmental impact of packaging with problematic end-of-life, such as multilayer or multicomponent packaging ; and
iii) Creating an effective after-use economy for recovered plastics at the end of its lifetime, , imrpoving the reliability of the recovered raw materials to ensure the quality of the products obtained with them.
CIRC-PACK project will provide breakthrough biodegradable plastics using alternative biobased raw materials, which will have an instrumental role to play in the subsequence steps of the plastic value chain.. These developments will also contribute to greatly reduce the packaging footprint, by increasing the biobased content and using compostable materials. Finally, a multisectorial cascaded approach along plastic packaging value chain will be applied, which will also have critical impacts in other value chains (automotive, hygiene products ), increasing the typology and feasibility of both raw materials recovered and products obtained with it. All CIRC-PACK activities will be supported by an innovative assessment methodology (social, economic, environmental) for the plastic packaging value chain, in order to evaluate the transition from the current linear plastic packaging value chain to circular economy principles,.
OBJETIVES
In addition, in order to enhance the replicability of the proposed innovations, sustainable business models will be identified, thus activating a self spreading principle that will open the door for the wide implementation of CIRC-PACK principles.
CIRCE´s ROLE
On the technical side, CIRCE will be responsible of the following activities:
- Defining the environmental, social and economic evaluation methodology
- Analysing the replicability of the CIRC-PACK value chain in each involved region.
- Assessing the project’s impact and its social acceptance.