H2020 BIO-PLASTICS EUROPE

Project leader:Prof. Dr.-Ing. Kerstin Kuchta
Contact person:Zhi Kai Chong
Anja Giebelhausen
Funder:EU Horizon 2020
Budget:8.5 mil. €
Duration:Oct 2020 - September 2023
Partners:Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI)
Arctic Biomaterials OY (ABI)
Assobioplastiche Servizi Societá A Responsabilitá Limitata (ASSO-BIO)
Ecoembalajes Espana, S.A. (ECOEMBES)
Fraunhofer Institute for Structural Durability and System Reliability LBF (FRAUNHOFER LBF)
Hamburg Institute of International Economics (HWWI)
Hamburg University of Applied Sciences (HAW)
Hamburg University of Technology (TUHH)
Heng Hiap Industries (HHI)
Kaunas University of Technology (KUT)
Lodz University of Technology (TUL)
National Research Council (CNR)
Natureplast SAS (NP)
Prospex Institute (PI)
Swedish Environmental Research Institute (IVL)
Technical University of Tallinn (TalTech)
Technologie Innovative per il Controllo Ambientale e lo Sviluppo Sostenible scrl (TICASS)
The Austrian Centre of Industrial Biotechnology (Acib GmbH)
The Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU)
Turku University of Applied Sciences (TUAS)
Universidad Politecnica De Madrid (UPM)
University of Bologna (UNIBO)

The project is coordinated by Hamburg University of Applied Sciences in Hamburg. Research institutions, universities and companies from 12 EU countries (Austria, Belgium, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Lithuania, Poland, Sweden, Spain and the UK) and Malaysia form the core members of the project. In addition, more than 15 network cities such as Hamburg (Germany), Manchester (UK) and Aveiro (Portugal) are in the loop, showing interest to implement solutions at sub-national level.
The project tasks cover critical elements over the entire lifecycle of a biobased or biodegradable plastic product. They include design and production of bioplastic prototypes, laboratory and field tests, evaluation of the potential impacts of bioplastics on the current waste management system, safety and environmental assessments as well as business model development.
The project also aims to foster strategic networking across Europe to enable fast dissemination of ideas, solutions, and leverage synergies. The results would enable bioplastic value chains to become more circular and sustainable.