After over 4 years of project work, BIO-PLASTICS EUROPE concluded on 23rd January 2024 with the final conference, an event that brought project partners, stakeholders and various guests together for a final time to celebrate the project’s success and discuss its outcomes.
Established in 2002, HHI is an integrated plastic recycling company that collects 60,000 metric tons of plastic scrap within Malaysia annually. In Malaysia's fragmented recycling industry, HHI stands out for manufacturing and customizing superior recycled plastic resins for use in a variety of finished products. As a fully integrated recycling company in Malaysia, it stands out for its contribution to accelerating the development of the country's smart waste solutions space that promotes circular economy-based sustainable practices.
Two workshops on Optimizing Bio-Based Plastic Waste Management in Europe have been held on 3rd Octobre in Estonia and on 5th Octobre in Lithuania. The events were organised as part of the Historic Cities against Plastic Waste (HISCAP) network series.
IVL Swedish Environmental Research Institute (IVL) is an independent, non-profit research institute with a broad environmental profile. IVL combines applied research and development with a close collaboration between the business and public sectors and works actively across the entire area of sustainability. With around 400 employees, IVL is a leading institute for applied environmental research and consultancy services in Sweden.
The 8th issue of BIO-PLASTICS EUROPE newsletter was sent out to subscribers on 4th October. The BIO-PLASTICS EUROPE project aims to replace commonly used plastics with bio-based and biodegradable alternatives. Within the project, bio-based polymers are produced and then tested in terms of their degradability and properties for their intended use.
A white paper will tell the story of bio-based plastics and their alignment with current EU policies and strategy
By Dr Carly Fletcher Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU) – United Kingdom
The National Research Council (CNR) is the largest public research institution in Italy, the only one under the Research Ministry performing multidisciplinary activities.
On June 30th we had our Bio-plastics Europe and Glaukos project workshop "𝗠𝗮𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗲-𝗳𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗱𝗹𝘆 𝗯𝗶𝗼𝗽𝗼𝗹𝘆𝗺𝗲𝗿𝘀: 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗰𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗻𝗴𝗲𝘀" within the EuBioNet and the EBRN network. We collected 235 registrations, a lot of positive and enthusiastic feedback and a lot of interest, which allow us to finally engage more than 120 participants proactively contributing in the different thematic sessions and policy makers to further explore this topic.
BIO-PLASTICS EUROPE is issuing a call for Papers for a new book: "Innovative Approaches to Handle Plastic Waste and Foster Bio-based Plastics Production"
Ecoembes inside TheCircularLab is supporting BIO-PLASTICS EUROPE with their expert knowledge on plastic waste management. Ecoembes' TheCircularLab is the first open innovation center specialized in the circular economy in Europe, opened in 2017 and focused on the study, testing and development of best practices in the field of packaging and its subsequent recycling. TheCircularLab goal: to promote circularity through solutions that make the entire recycling process easier and better.
EUROPEAN-ASIAN SYMPOSIUM on Innovation and Integrative Approaches in Handling Plastic Pollution and Fostering Bioplastic Production
What are measures to counteract plastic pollution of land and water ecosystems? This was the guiding question of the European-Asian Symposium which took place in Vietnam from June 6 to 7 as a part of the BIO-PLASTICS EUROPE project in collaboration with RMIT University, Vietnam.
Turku University of Applied Sciences (Turku UAS) is a higher education institution of 12,000 experts, researchers, students, faculty members and teaching professionals and the fourth largest technical university in Finland. We create solutions for a better tomorrow – both regionally and globally. Our graduates are practice-oriented professionals with top competencies.
Bio-based and biodegradable materials have the potential to replace traditional petroleum-based plastics across a range of products; possibly contributing to a more circular economy. However, the uptake of these materials will not succeed unless consumers, manufacturers, and regulators are convinced of their efficacy.
Assobioplastiche (Italian Association of bioplastics and biodegradable and compostable materials), founded in 2011, aims to promote the dissemination of biodegradable and compostable products in full compliance with the principles of the circular economy.
In the BIO-PLASTICS EUROPE project the Tallinn University of Technology (TalTech) is represented by a team of scientists from the Water and Environmental Engineering Research Group (WEERG). The WEERG performs research mainly related to surface water quality, treatment of municipal and industrial waste and waste waters, impacts of climate change on hydrological regime and more. Special attention is paid to anaerobic digestion and composting of biodegradable wastes together with sludge from wastewater treatment and with by-products from different processing manufactures with the aim of producing biogas.
The Massive Online Open Course by "BIO-PLASTICS EUROPE". "The New Plastics Economy: Circular Business Models and Sustainability" is an online course, open to all, to discover the world of bio-based and biodegradable plastics. The course is carried out within the BIO-PLASTICS EUROPE project, of which the University of Bologna is a partner, with the aim of developing sustainable strategies and solutions related to bio-based plastics and supporting the "European Strategy for Plastics in a Circular Economy ".
Lodz University of Technology (TUL) came into existence in 1945 and nowadays is one of the biggest and the best state universities in Poland. The TUL is the first university in Poland to have been awarded the prestigious ECTS Label Certificate by the European Commission. In 2016, the University was awarded, as the first technical university in Poland, the HR Excellence in Research Badge. TUL is the only university in Poland, which has joined the elite network of the European Consortium of Innovative Universities (ECIU). As a European technical university we conduct interdisciplinary research and education tailored to the expectations of society and the economy.
The second BIO-PLASTICS EUROPE’s review meeting took place in December 2022, in Hamburg, Germany. Over two days the project consortium presented the project achievements and discussed further steps with the EU and the Reviewers. In the first reporting period 30 deliverables were submitted and approved and during the second period additional 15 deliverables were submitted. During this review meeting valuable feedback and advices have been received from the European Union and two external experts.
On 23rd November 2022, BIO-PLASTICS EUROPE hosted the 7th EBRN event in collaboration with GLAUKOS project. The event took place online from 10 to 12h (CET) and was also streamed live. The workshop was joined by representatives of EU research projects as well as EU policy officers.
Here you can read a summary of the workshop organized by Glaukos and BIO-PLASTICS EUROPE projects, which took place online on 3rd November 2022, from 9.00 to 12.00 (CET).
Our project partners the Swedish Environmental Research Institute (IVL), Prospex Institute (PI) and Tecnologie Innovative per il Controllo Ambientale e lo Sviluppo Sostenible scrl (TICASS) are conducting a survey to try and answer the question if biodegradable and compostable plastics are suitable in commercial and household applications.
Alma mater Studiorum – Università di Bologna will hosts a Focus Group where a group of global key experts and stakeholders from across the Toy industry will come together during the ECOMONDO fair https://en.ecomondo.com
Researchers from the BIO-PLASTICS EUROPE team at the Alfred Wegener Institute (AWI), Germany, published a paper last month on in-vitro testing of the enzymatic degradation of bio-based plastics under natural temperatures prevailing in the marine environment.
Here you can read a summary of the 6th EBRN event titled “Insights from 10 Horizon projects: EU policy for bio-based and biodegradable plastics”, which took place on 22 June 2022. The event was livestreamed on the BIO-PLASTICS EUROPE YouTube channel.
This week, as part of the Partner Introduction Series, we introduce you to our team at the Hamburg University of Applied Sciences (HAW), the coordinator of the BIO-PLASTICS EUROPE project. In this project, the HAW has been represented by 2 teams: the Research and Transfer Centre on Sustainability and Climate Change Management (abbr. in German FTZ-NK) which is coordinating the project and the Research group Environmental Analytics and Ecotoxicology examining the safety of the innovative bio-based plastics.
Continuing with our BIO-PLASTICS EUROPE partner introduction series, we introduce our team at the Alfred Wegener Institute Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research, Germany.
Bio-Plastics Europe published our first public deliverable, a handbook on how bio-based and biodegradable plastic waste impacts existing waste management systems.
By Elisabetta Arato, Samantha Caputo, and Stefano Gianazzi (Tecnologie Innovative per il Controllo Ambientale e lo Sviluppo Sostenibile (TICASS) Scrl, Italy)
The 5th issue of BIO-PLASTICS EUROPE’s Newsletter was sent out to subscribers on 31st March. The BIO-PLASTICS EUROPE project aims to replace commonly used plastics with bio-based and biodegradable alternatives. Within the project, bio-based polymers are produced and then tested in terms of their degradability and properties for their intended use. 30 months into the project, the first round of bio-based compounds’ testing is done.
Image: Earthworm distribution within the STME was affected by the presence of bio-based plastic microparticles (Source: TUL). Ewa Liwarska-Bizukojc, a researcher at the Lodz Universitity of Technology (TUL) and part of the BIO-PLASTICS EUROPE team, recently published a short communication on the …
The third BIO-PLASTICS EUROPE Executive Board Meeting took place last week, from 16th to 17th of March. The meeting, organized by the HAW Hamburg, was attended by project’s Work Package Leaders, project companies Arctic Biomaterials and NaturePlast, as well as Impact and Technical Coordinators. During those two days, the group discussed the project’s progress during the last six months, agreed on future steps and discussed new ideas.
Image: corn is used as feedstock for plastic production. Image by Skitterphoto from Pixabay. Researchers from the BIO PLASTICS EUROPE team at the Hamburg Institute of International Economics (HWWI) recently published a study about polylactic acid (PLA), a bio-based and biodegradable polymer with …
Here you can read a summary of the online event “How do cooperation models strengthen stakeholder engagement for circular bio-economy”, which took place on 27 January 2022.
BIO-PLASTICS EUROPE had a very productive time in Berlin at the 16th EUBP Conference, which took place last week on 30.11 and 01.12 in a hybrid format (both online and face-to-face).
This 4th issue of BIO-PLASTICS EUROPE’s Newsletter marks the mid-point of our project. Despite difficult working conditions under pandemic restrictions, the project has been progressing well over the past two years, with two more to go.
By Freddys R. Beltrán, Marina P. Arrieta, Jorge Ramírez, María U. de la Orden, Joaquín Martínez Urreaga, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid and Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Spain.
The Second BIO-PLASTICS EUROPE General Assembly took place this week, from 14 to 16 of September. The meeting, organized by HAW Hamburg, was attended by our 22 Consortium Partners, a great team reaching a total of 93 members in 13 countries. During those three days, the entire group had the opportunity to hear from each other. The activities undertaken over the past two years have been presented and new synergies for the work planned in the next two years identified. With such a big consortium, new ideas have been popping out to increase our coordination and cooperation, so that BIO-PLASTICS EUROPE´s impact and reach can be maximized.
The BIO-PLASTICS EUROPE Consortium is meeting for three days this week to discuss progress made within the project over the last two years and align activities for the next two.
Face masks are a predominant non-pharmaceutical measure used around the world to limit the spread of COVID-19. Although professional masks such as medical and FFP masks are effective against SARS-CoV-2, they harm the environment when being incorrectly disposed. Recent studies suggest that 75% of the COVID-19 related waste ends up in the environment.
The COVID-19 pandemic seems more under control in Europe than one year ago, and social life consequently appears less restricted in many countries.
However, the pandemic isn’t over yet, and face masks remain an important public health measure to control COVID-19 transmission in the upcoming autumn and winter months. With easing restrictions, you may get to make an active choice when it comes to wearing different face mask types. You can choose between cotton masks, medical masks, FFP masks, or bio-based (PLA) masks.
Hamburg, 07 July 2021 - Since 01 July 2021, many single-use plastic products have been banned in the EU. Science believes this measure will make a major positive contribution against plastic waste in the sea. The EU is taking a further step with two research projects that are looking for alternatives to plastics - and should enable the definition of clear criteria for its biodegradability. Now the two European projects BIO-PLASTICS EUROPE, coordinated by the University of Applied Sciences (HAW) based in Hamburg/Germany, and SEALIVE, coordinated by the Instituto Tecnológico del Embalaje, Transporte y Logística (ITENE) in Valencia/Spain, have met online with EU representatives to engage in a knowledge exchange.
BIO-PLASTICS EUROPE’s review meeting took place this Thursday, the 17.06.2021. In this day-long event, the project consortium presented the project achievements to date: over the past 20 months, almost 50% of the project deliverables have already been completed. The meeting is a forum to evaluate the progress of the entire project, provide feedback and advice for future activities.
Last Sunday, our team has visited the Bioeconomy exhibit organised by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) on board of the MS Wissenschaft (MS Science). Here are our impressions!
The European Research Agency has organised a cluster meeting with Horizon 2020 projects dealing with marine litter. BIO-PLASTICS EUROPE Coordinator Prof. Walter Leal and Lead Project Manager Dr. Jelena Barbir were present.
On 20.05.2021, HAW project manager Cintia Nunes presented BIO-PLASTICS EUROPE in a Deep Dive session of this year’s Hamburg Innovation Summit, which had more than 1.300 attendees in total.
The BIO-PLASTICS EUROPE Partner Introduction series goes on. Today, you can read more about the Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU), our project partner in the UK.
The 3rd HISCAP ONLINE EVENT “Plastic Waste management in European Cities - Key Role of Associations and NGOs” took place on 20.04.2021. Here are the main take-home messages of our speakers!
BIO-PLASTICS EUROPE is developing robust solutions which are based on science and also on the expertise and insights from key stakeholders. To this end, the project is implementing an over-encompassing stakeholder engagement approach, which is the topic of this final post in this project newsletter series.
*By Karolina Niemenoja, PI, Belgium*
BIO-PLASTICS EUROPE is concerned with the safety of bio-based plastic products. To make sure that they conform with safety requirements, materials and products are subjected to a range of tests such as those described in the previous three posts. Our team at Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU) is developing a guide to ensure that products made with bio-based plastics are sustainable, allowed in the market, trusted by consumers and of course disposed of correctly. The fifth post of our project newsletter series explains why this task is important.
*By Carly Fletcher, MMU, United Kingdom*
The BIO-PLASTICS EUROPE team at the Alfred Wegener Institute Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI) in Bremerhaven, Germany, is studying what happens to marine organisms such as mussels and shrimps after they ingest microplastics. With this research, they want to understand more about the possible environmental impacts of bio-based plastics. This is the fourth post in our current project update series, bringing you very interesting images produced within their research activities.
*By Lukas Miksch, Lars Gutow and Reinhard Saborowski, AWI, Germany*
The BIO-PLASTICS EUROPE team at Hamburg University of Technology (TUHH) conducted experiments on one of the PLA-based materials which have already been developed within the project. PLA is the abbreviation for polylactic acid, a bio-based plastic material. The experiment lasted from September to November 2020 and is briefly described in this post.
*By Zhi Kai Chong, TUHH, Germany*
The BIO-PLASTICS EUROPE consortium has developed five bio-based plastic materials. Those materials are now being subject to tests both in the laboratory and in the field by nine of our project partners. In the second post on our six-post project update series, you can have a brief look into our research activities.
*By Stefano Gianazzi, TICASS, Italy*
Eighteen months in, BIO-PLASTICS EUROPE partners have already published eleven research papers, developed five prototypes of bio-based plastics, initiated laboratory and field experiments and started developing a safety protocol for bio-based plastic products to guide both companies and policymakers, all that while engaging stakeholders from the entire bio-based plastics supply chain. We invite you to learn more about our work and objectives in this and the next five articles. Enjoy reading!
*By Cintia Nunes, HAW Hamburg, Germany*
An essential aspect of BIO-PLASTICS EUROPE is disseminating project results and fostering networks within the industry, decision-makers and citizens. The goal of our stakeholder engagement strategy is not only to inform, but also to promote cooperation and knowledge transfer with stakeholders and co-develop the market for bio-based biodegradable plastics.
The third virtual meeting for the European Bio-plastics Research Network (EBRN) was held on Wednesday, 17th February 2021, with more than 70 participants in attendance from 27 countries. Participants answered a survey designed to gauge their usage of bio-plastics, and responses point to a positive outlook on bio-plastics. 37% of the event participants said to regularly buy or use products made of bio-plastics, and 54% reported doing it sometimes.
The BIO-PLASTICS Partner Introduction series continues in 2021. Today, we are delighted to introduce Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (UPM), a public university located in Madrid, Spain.
The second event for the Network of Historic Cities against Plastic Waste (HISCAP) took place on 15.12.2020. Organized by the University of Bologna (UNIBO), the event focused on “Best practices for sustainable plastic waste management in Mediterranean countries” and featured five presenters from Italy, Greece, Spain and Croatia. The speakers shared experience of their research institutions and initiatives battling marine plastic pollution in historic cities bordering the Mediterranean Sea, where the challenge is to preserve the tourism and the economy of the sea while also minimizing urban littering.
Our third post in the partner introduction series focuses on our Italian partner Technologie Innovative per il Controllo Ambientale e lo Sviluppo Sostenible scrl - in short, TICASS.
Last week was very busy for BIO-PLASTICS EUROPE, with three stakeholder events organized by our partners. Here is a brief account of them. If you wish to read the presentations, please access our (link: https://bioplasticseurope.eu/downloads/project-events text: downloads page).
Dr. André Wolf, of BIO-PLASTICS EUROPE partner HWWI, held a Keynote speech titled "Bioplastics in food packaging: potentials and challenges from an environmental point of view".
BIO-PLASTICS EUROPE has initiated a network of science, industry and public administration for developing bio-based and bio-degradable plastics. The 2nd Virtual Meeting of the European Bioplastics Research Network “2nd & 3rd Generation Feedstock for Bio-based and Bio-degradable Plastics” on 4 November 2020 gathered more than 70 international researchers, company representatives and political decision-makers from Europe to discuss the production of bio-based materials from feedstock.
The virtual Austrian Stakeholder Meeting about bio-based and biodegradable plastics was hosted by acib GmbH on 07.10.2020 and welcomed the key players of the topic for a joint discussion.
The first on-line meeting "Towards Zero Plastic Waste in Historic Cities" of “Historical cities against plastic waste” network (HISCAP) took place on 17th September 2020. The meeting was organized by the Institute of Environmental Engineering of Kaunas University of Technology (KTU APINI) together with the Hamburg University of Applied Sciences (HAW Hamburg).
The first of a series of stakeholder engagement events was successfully held on September 11, 2020 for Stakeholders in Germany hosted by the Hamburg University of Technology. Interesting topics focused on bio-based and biodegradable plastics such as material design, circular systems, environmental impacts, opportunities and challenges were discussed. The event had 60 participants and representatives from Lorentzen & Sievers, Frutania, Stadtreinigung Hamburg, Hamburg University of Applied Sciences, Fraunhofer LBF, Hamburg Institute of International Economics and Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research.
Hamburg, 27 August, 2020 - The amount of plastic waste is increasing worldwide. More needs to be done to avoid, reuse and recycle plastic waste. Many cities in Europe are already seeking and developing sustainable approaches to manage the amount of waste. In order to learn from each other and exchange ideas, the EU project BIO-PLASTICS EUROPE will launch a virtual platform on September 17, 2020.
Interested parties from European cities can register free of charge for the online kick-off event from 10 a.m. to 12.30 p.m. CET here: https://bioplasticseurope.eu/news-events/towards-zero-plastic-waste-in-historic-cities
BIO-PLASTICS EUROPE is starting a series of posts in which we will introduce our partners to you, the first one being the Austrian Centre of Industrial Biotechnology, or short: acib GmbH.
The project BIO-PLASTICS EUROPE initiated a network of science, companies and politics for the research and development of bio-based and biodegradeable plastics. The online conference "Past and Current H2020 Projects Joined in Bioplastics Research" on 24 June 2020 was the kick-off for the European Bioplastics Research Network to present first results and to improve networking. Almost 100 international researchers, company representatives and political decision-makers from Europe came together to discuss how research and the introduction of bio-based and biodegradable plastics can be advanced.
Power4bio coordinated with the Horizon 2020 project BE-Rural, to compile best practices for the Bio-economy sector. Theoretically, several measures have been agreed to support stable and appealing markets for biobased products, such as fossil carbon tax, a CO2 tax, quotas, tax credits, removal of fossil subsidies and, mandates and bans. Click below to read the report.
On its journey to develop a more recyclable and compostable hot cup solution by 2022, Starbucks announced today details for in-market testing of a more sustainable cup technology from the NextGen Cup Challenge.
If you've ever shopped for groceries at ALDI, you've probably noticed that the international supermarket chain is filled with plastic and non-recyclable packaging. But by 2025, every single product you see in ALDI will be either package-free or wrapped in recyclable, reusable, or compostable packaging, as ALDI announced last year.
Over 100 participants came together at the BIO-PLASTICS EUROPE kick-off-meeting in Hamburg. Partners and Stakeholders from all over the world discussed sustainable strategies and solutions for bio-based plastic products.
