Project
Plastic waste poses an important environmental problem in Europe and worldwide, especially from leakage to natural habitats. Of more than 29 Mt of plastic post-consumer waste collected in the EU in 2020, the average recycling rate of packaging waste was less than 40%. Packaging is the largest end-use market of plastic demand (40.5%). Multilayer packaging (e.g. paper/plastic composites), widely used in the food and beverage industry, applies mostly polyethylene (PE) film as plastic coating.
In the agriculture sector, plastics are used to enhance crop yield, save water and agrochemicals but bear the risk of being lost during operation. Agricultural plastics market represents 3.2% of the plastic demand and the 50% increase in global food supplies expected by 2050 will lead to a substantially higher demand of plastics for mulch films (today mainly made of PE).
REBIOLUTION aims to design and synthetize novel fully bio-based and biodegradable polyester blends based on 2,5- Furandicarboxylic acid (FDCA) and other bio-based monomers fit for specific product-market applications selected in this project for their widespread use and negative impact on the environment: (1) plastic coating for food packaging (e.g. for frozen/chilled food or ready meal trays) and (2) mulch films for agricultural applications.
Well-defined properties will be established by carefully tuning the polymer blends for each application in order to boost the sustainability performance (non-toxic substances used, reduced non-renewable energy consumption, recyclable and at the same time home compostable and biodegradable in soil and aquatic environments) and improved functionality while ensuring product and processes safety. REBIOLUTION is committed to remove barriers to market penetration by providing a drop-in bio-based polymer blend replacement that fosters a seamless transition for the downstream valuechain, avoiding additional investment in the processing industrial lines and extra-costs for consumers
Coordinator
BASF SE (Germany)
Partners
BASF SE (Germany), NORMEC OWS (Belgium), HYDRA MARINE SCIENCES GMBH (Germany), CONTACTICA SL (Spain), AVANTIUM RENEWABLE POLYMERS BV (The Netherlands), TAMPEREEN KORKEAKOULUSAATIO SR (Finland), STORA ENSO OYJ (Finland), CENTRE TECHNIQUE DE L INDUSTRIE
DESPAPIERS CARTONS ET CELLULOSES (France), EIDGENOESSISCHE TECHNISCHE
HOCHSCHULE ZUERICH (Switzerland)
Tasks of Normec OWS
- Work package 4 leader: PERFORMANCE ASSESMENT OF POLYMER BLENDS AND FINAL PLASTIC-BASED PRODUCTS AT DIFFERENT END-OF-LIFE SCENARIOS (BIODEGRADABILITY, RECYCLABILITY)
- Examine the biodegradation of the developed FDCA-containing polyesters under controlled composting conditions
- Evaluate the developed blends and plastic-coated paper for organic recycling by industrial composting and anaerobic digestion
- Perform ecotoxicity tests (plants, worms, daphnia, rotifers, artemia, bacteria, algae) on degradation residuals