upPE-T: Upcycling of PE and PET wastes to generate biodegradable bioplastics for food and drink packaging
Polyethylene (PE) and Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) are the leading plastic use in food and drink packaging (43% PE and 19% PET). The sustainable management of this plastic waste has become a very challenging problem for global society. upPE-T consortium will improve PE and PET depolymerization through enzymatic engineering to positively impact food and drink packaging recycling rate and achieving the European Union expected impact; in particular, the project intends to turn PE and PET waste streams via enzymatic degradation and microbial assimilation into raw material for the production of biodegradable bioplastics. In addition, the project will simplify the downstream bioplastic recovery process from cell biomass using an efficient and green extraction approach in which toxic solvents are not used. Together with end users, bio-based end-packaging will be demonstrated and validated in a real environment to ensure fast market deployment. Additionally, in order to ensure 100% of PE and PET recyclability, plastic rejections not optimal for microbial bioconversion into bioplastics will be valorized by their use in building applications instead of be sent to incineration or landfilling. upPE-T will be an important part of the actions for compliance with the European Strategy for Plastics in a Circular Economy.
Durata: 2021-2024
Partner
- Centro Tecnologico del Cazado y del Pastico (CETEC), ES
- Enzymicals AG, DE
- Eco Plastics d.o.o Beograd, SR
- Asociacion para la promocion investigacion, desarrollo e innovacion tecnologica de la industria del calzado y conexas de La Riojia, ES
- Universitat fur Bodenkultur, AT
- Tampereen korkeakoulusaation sr, FI
- Lappeenranta-Lahti University of Technology, FI
- Tecnoalimenti S.C.p.A., IT
- Institute for development and innovation, SR
- Digitouch OU, EE
- Unione Nazionale Consumatori, IT
- Dimos Neas Smymi, GR
- Durukan Confectionery INC, TR
- Asociacion Espanola de Normalizacion, ES
- Cetec Biotechnology, ES
- University of Alicante, ES
- BIO-MI, HR
- Villani Salumi, IT
- Moses Advance Materials, ES
- Greifswald University, DE
Contatti: m.faraldi@tecnoalimenti.com
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