The European plastic market is not currently aligned with the circular economy. More than 25.8 million tonnes of plastic waste are produced per year in the EU28 being recycled only 29.7%. This represents a clear loose in the plastic market loop (losses of €10.56bn). Moreover, this goes against the EU legislation on waste (high environmental impact; 23.8 Mt of CO2). Low recycling rates of plastic are mainly due to the situation of packaging waste (i.e. main plastic waste fraction), since it is mainly domestic residue and consequently the quality of the material collected depends on the system of segregation available and the environmental awareness of citizens. PlastiCircle aims to develop and implement a holistic process to increase recycling rates of packaging waste in Europe. This will allow to reprocess again plastic waste in the same value chain (i.e. Circular economy; closure of plastic loop). This process is based on four axes: collection (to increase quantity of packaging collected), transport (to reduce costs of recovered plastic), sorting (to increase quality of recovered plastic), and valorization in value-added products (i.e. foam boards, automotive parts like engine covers/bumpers/dashboards, bituminous roofing membranes, garbage bags, asphalt sheets/roofing felts and urban furniture like fences/benches/protection walls). The target is to increase collection from 81.7% to 87% and valorization in a 9.8%. The implementation of PlastiCircle approach in Europe have the potential to increase collected plastic in 861,250t (reaching 14.14 Mt) and valorization in 1.59Mt. The valorization of this new material, represents a market value of €2.86bn-€7.95bn. Taking into account current figures of the plastic sector (turnover €350bn, 62,000 companies, 1.45M employees), this could imply creation of 500-1400 new companies and the generation of 11,900-33,000 new jobs in the medium to long term if PlastiCircle approach is extended in a EU level.

More than 25 million tonnes of plastic waste are produced every year in the EU28 (50 kg per EU citizen). Although the rates of plastic waste recovery have increased (26% mechanical recycling; 35.6% energy recovery), 38.4% of this waste is still landfilled (9.6 million tonnes). This goes against the EU Waste Framework Directive 2008/98/EC as it has a high environmental impact (0.105kg CO2/kg plastic waste landfilled; production of one million tonnes of CO2) and wastage of resources (€590/tonne of recycled plastic ; losses of €5,664 M). INTERVAL, S.A. is a family-owned business created in 1982 specialised the recycling and transformation of plastics. We employ 22 people and have an annual turnover of €3,240,066. We produce more than 7,000 tonnes of plastic products per year using the most advanced technology in our production processes.Through ReDurComp, we aim to launch innovative, low-cost products onto the EU market based on premium recycled PE. We will start by introducing two products for which a clear market need has been identified (i.e. plastic sacks for household waste collection and plastic covers for pallets). As a whole, sales of about €48.3 million are forecast within a five-year period, generating profits of over €4.8 million. During phase 1, a feasibility study including a business plan will be developed in line with the overall internationalisaton and growth plan of our company. This study will include: (1) a market assessment to confirm INTERVAL’s products acceptance in the two segments considered; (2) a technical assessment to validate our recycled PE material according to relevant EU standards and procedures, as well as final testing; (3) a stakeholder assessment to identify the key players and activities for the second and third phases of the project; (4) a complete Business Plan including a cost analysis of raw materials and production activities, marketing and sales strategies, target market, investment requirements, and sales partners.