Tarpaulins are complex composite-like materials, typically composed of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) as reinforcement material and plasticized/soft polyvinyl chloride (PVC) as coating material. These durable plastics have a wide range of applications going from trailer covers to professional tents and from advertisement banners to biogas membranes. Each year 200 kton of tarpaulins enter the EU market, 65% of this volume , corresponding to ca. 200 Mio m2, being produced in the EU. After their functional lifetime, which ranges from a few months up to 30 years, over 99% of tarpaulins currently end up as landfill or are being incinerated as today’s recycling technologies are insufficient. The target of RETAIN is to contribute to the final ambition of having by 2036 at least 90% of circular tarpaulins use (re-used, remanufactured or recycled). To reach our ambition, we will further develop various recycling technologies (i.e. mechanical, physical, and selective dissolution) and demonstrate circular business practices (advanced collection, monitoring, sorting, repair/reuse/recycling and conversion of post-production and end-of-life tarpaulins) at TRL8 scale at three DEMO locations in the EU. Additionally, we will develop and implement an efficient decision-making mechanism for process and lifecycle optimization such as the RETAIN gate control procedure for post-industrial and end-of-life tarpaulins. Finally, we will implement a digital product passport (DPP) for tarpaulins to ensure traceability, support certification and quality validation, quantify environmental, social, and economic impacts, incorporate learning and training activities, contribute to relevant standards, and connect with other recycling initiatives in the EU and abroad.

CISUFLO aims to set up a systemic framework for circular and sustainable floor coverings (carpets, resilient floor coverings and laminates) and minimise the sector’s total environmental impact. Several challenges exist within flooring to make the transition to a circular economy: (i) complex value chain, varying from country to country; (ii) link to various sectors (construction & building, plastics, textiles & wood); (iii) products cover various raw materials, plus numerous additives; (iv) product lifetimes range from over 20 years (commercial flooring) to 3-4 days (event carpet). CISUFLO provides systemic innovations at the technical, information and socio-economic level and performs 6 pilots to demonstrate their feasibility and value (future flooring, sorting, separation, laminate, vinyl and textile flooring recycling). The basis for circularity is realising circular material streams. Therefore, we focus on the main flooring material streams: wood (laminates), PA (carpets) and PVC (resilient). We aim to realise circularisation via innovations that deliver value along the chain: (i) manufacturing flooring that is easier to remove, re-use, repair & recycle, as a competitive advantage to the manufacturer, and beneficial to several players along the value chain; (ii) integrated product information system enables sorting, but also offers extra functionalities for installation, cleaning and maintenance, and sustainability info for customer at purchasing phase. To engage a broader range of stakeholders and ensure uptake beyond the project we have established a Transition Support Group (TSG) with over 30 members covering technology providers, retailers and collectors. Assuming our impact reaches 30% of the market, CISUFLO will help to shift a turnover of ca. 5 billion to the circular economy, which will significantly help to secure ca 12.000 jobs in the sector and create additionally ca 2500 jobs in collection and recycling.

The European plastics policy highlights bio-based plastics as a key piece to solve the negative impact of fossil-based plastics in the environment. One of the most promising biodegradable biopolymers is the polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) family that can replace these fossil-based plastics in many applications. They are synthesised by microorganisms from renewable carbon sources and exhibit good properties and excellent biodegradability. In this sense, ViSS project will create a new value chain around PHBV (a copolymer of the PHAs family) as a safe, sustainable, and cost-effective alternative to conventional plastics, especially for short shelf-life food packaging applications due to its excellent properties including flexibility, processability, recyclability and biodegradability in relevant environments (soil, freshwater, marine, industrial composting and home composting). ViSS PHBV will be produced from industrial organic residues and will be formulated and compounded to be transformed and validated as high-performance food packaging, being mechanically recyclable and biodegradable. Moreover, the whole ViSS circular value chain will be constructed upon a collaborative approach and under safe and sustainable criteria, accomplishing EU regulations and ensuring policy alignment, while the project will deliver and disseminate digital tools and resources which will favour an increased social readiness and marketability of bio-based plastics, fostering a ViSS wide adoption and replication. Our project gathers 15 partners from 6 European countries leaders in different fields of knowledge, from bioplastic production to validation in real packaging applications. Adoption of ViSS value chain will produce relevant outcomes as improved functionalities and environmental performances: reduction of 57.8% of CO2 emissions compared to fossil counterparts, yearly saving 11.7 kt of crude oil, recirculating 288.95 kt of biomass, avoiding the use of 2.2 kt of hazardous substances.