The EFFECTIVE project intends to demonstrate first of its kind and economically viable routes for the production of biobased polyamides and polyesters from sustainable renewable feedstock for the obtaining of fibres and films with enhanced properties, market competitiveness and increased sustainability. Such materials will be applied into eco-designed large consumer products targeting different markets, i.e. construction, automotive, primary and secondary packaging and textile and with the potential of being applied into many other markets (fishing, engineering plastics, agriculture, hygiene and personal care). Following a circular economy approach, the sustainability of the value chains will be further enhanced by the demonstration of an improved end-of-life of the developed eco-designed biobased solutions through the application of monomer regeneration, recycling (for polyamides based fibres and films) and composting/anaerobic digestion (for polyesters based films) processes. The idea that “the end is a new beginning” will indeed drive the products design and realization. The project covers the whole value chain: feedstock production, conversion into innovative biobased building blocks through biotechnological and chemical processes, formulation of innovative biobased polymers (polyesters and polyamides), final products development, end-of-life products management and processing. The project intends to represent a key milestone towards the future industrialization of biobased fibres and films production in Europe foreseeing the mobilization of relevant investments by involved industry partners and fostering the adoption of multi-stakeholders collaboration models to demonstrate effective ways to develop new cases of biobased economy interconnected with circular regenerative economy joining environmental sustainability and economic profitability.

A sizeable category in terms of organic content within MSW is represented by Absorbent Hygiene Products (AHPs; e.g. nappies, adult incontinence products, feminine hygiene items, wipes, etc.) waste, which is currently considered as non-recyclable fraction of MSW and finds its way to landfills or incineration, leading to important environmental concerns. Indeed, each year 8,500,000 tons of such waste are incinerated or landfilled in Europe (the equivalent of almost 30 landfills every year), and over 30,000,000 tons in the world. AHP are mainly composed of a mix of natural fibres (cellulose) and polymers (PP/PE and superabsorbent polymer), valuable materials that currently don’t find a proper valorization. Within EMBRACED project, a first-of-its-kind multi-purpose integrated biorefinery will be established in order to valorize in a relevant environment scenario the cellulosic fractions obtained from AHP waste towards the production of bio-products of significant commercial interest, and – concurrently – high added-value co-products, such polyolefinic plastics and SAP (superabsorbent polymers). This innovative biorefinery model will involve all the main actors of the whole value chain, from AHP consumers and local population to waste management and logistic companies, leading AHP producers and bioprocess developers, as well as final products developers. In a view of circular economy, all the fractions obtained from the processed AHP waste will be reused through valorization into final products, and in particular the high-quality cellulosic fraction of AHP (ca. 1,275,000 ton/y in Europe), which has significant advantages vs. traditional 2nd generation lignocellulosic feedstocks in terms of homogeneity and downstream bioprocessing costs, will be converted and valorized in two parallel value chains, leading to the production of biobased building blocks, polymers and fertilizers.

CIRC-PACK project aims at more sustainable, efficient, competitive, less fossil fuel dependence, integrated and interconnected plastic packaging value chain. To this end, three case studies will work in developing, testing and validating better system-wide economic and environmental outcomes by i) decoupling the chain from fossil feedstocks, (ii) reducing the negative environmental impact of plastic packaging; and (iii) creating an effective after-use plastics economy. All in all, the work will be supported by non-technological analysis and advanced methodological analysis (including circular economy and industrial symbiosis principles) which will trigger a broadly deployment of the tested solutions. 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. In addition, eco-design packaging for improving and end-of-life multilayer and multicomponent packaging will be technologically advanced and adapted also to the new materials produced. Thus these developments will also contribute with a great impact in the packaging footprint, and increasing the biobased content and using compostable materials. Lastly, a multi-sectorial cascaded approach along plastic packaging value chain will be applied with critical impacts in other value chains beyond the targeted plastic packaging value chain. The overall outcome of the project will facilitate the transition from the current linear plastic packaging value chain to circular economy principles.