MoeBIOS

Objectives

Bioplastics (BPs) pose environmental challenges. However, recycling them can mitigate these issues by improving waste management practices. The EU-funded MoeBIOS project aims to develop three bioplastics recycling value chains to enhance waste management efficiency across Europe. These chains will establish connections that address key stages, including sorting, conditioning, and valorising waste streams from packaging, agriculture, and textile industries. The project aims to maintain the same quality and functionality as the original bioplastic grades. Additionally, the MoeBIOS project will scale up recycling processes and seamlessly integrate them into pilot plants, ensuring they complement existing industrial recycling lines. The focus is on bioplastics that lack established recycling methods.

Challenges

MOEBIOS is an application of the circular (bio)economy concept: the development of three value chains incorporating separate recycling streams for bioplastics (BP’s) to improve waste management efficiency throughout Europe. It is a systemic innovation: it will create linkages addressed at the different key stages of the whole chains to solve a hierarchical challenge, from the collection of the bioplastic waste (simulated streams), up to the upcycling and validation of the final recycled end-products (holistic and coordinated solution).
The new value chain will imply sorting, conditioning and valorising three types of waste streams from the packaging, agriculture and textile industries into three end-products, targeting to reach at least the same quality and functionality than the original grades, while the end users’ acceptance will be assessed as well. As cornerstone targets for maximizing project’s impact, the upscaling of the recycling processes will: (1) be integrated in pilot plants on the premises of actual industrial recycling lines currently operating in waste management companies, not disrupting them, and reaching a final TRL = 6/7 or even beyond. (2) focus on bioplastics for which recycling processes are still not in place, excluding bio-based analogues (“drop-ins”): PLA and PLA blends, PHA and its blends, PBS and PEF, accordingly with the market. The use of PBAT will be assessed as well.
A Multi-Actor Approach (MAA) and a transdisciplinary methodology will engage waste producers, waste managers, bio-based and (bio)plastics industry, public authorities, standardization agencies, citizens and media multipliers, creating a co-creation and co-ownership innovation environment of + 50 participants.

Project funded by : 

Partners

INSTITUTO TECNOLOGICO DEL EMBALAJE, TRANSPORTE Y LOGISTICA • NEXT TECHNOLOGY TECNOTESSILE SOCIETA NAZIONALE DI RICERCA • ACONDICIONAMIENTO TARRASENSE ASSOCIACION • NOVAMONT • EUROPEAN BIOPLASTICS • PICVISA MACHINE VISION SYSTEMS • ASA SPEZIALENZYME GMBH • EROSKI SCOOP • AUZO LAGUN S. COOP • GREENE • ALIA SERVIZI AMBIENTALI • ZERO EMISSIONS ENGINEERING • CHEMOSVIT FIBROCHEM • ESTUDIOS, DIRECCION E INVESTIGACION DE FERMENTACIONES ESPECIALES • EURO-FUNDING EU PROJECTS SOCIEDAD LIMITADA • SARABIA PLASTICS • NOVIS GMBH • BARBIER • TRANS SABATER • TOTALENERGIES CORBION