Plastics Recycling from and for home appliances, toys and textile

ongoing

As it is addressed by the European Plastics Strategy (European Green Deal & Circular Economy Action Plan 2.0), new methods to reliably calculate, verify and report the recycled content in products need to be developed, boosting the increase of recycled content in everyday products against the use of virgin materials. However, measuring the recycled content is complex, requiring product tracing to the production source. PRecycling aims to develop an easy-to-use methodology for sorting, sampling, tracing and recycling plastic waste streams, including detection and separation of legacy additives, along with standard analysis procedures for both plastic waste materials and recyclates (secondary raw materials) in order to produce consistently high quality, safe-to-use recyclates based on their degradation degree and added-value products with predicted lifetime. Smart tracing via digital systems will be developed in parallel, to ensure the quality and safety of reused materials, targeting a sustainable, transparent and functional Circular Economy Model for the recycling market. The environmental and financial viability of PRecycling solutions will be assessed throughout life cycle and cost analysis in order to reach competitive prices of recycled products. The above will be demonstrated, producing (I) home appliances components, (II) toys/learning resources, and (III) 100% recycled textile, starting from the same sector recyclates and different European regions. However, the proposed methodology in PRecycling could be adapted by many other sectors, i.e. packaging, vehicles, and electric/electronic equipment, triggering significant societal impact apart from commercial and industrial interest. Demonstration activities will serve as part of a community awareness initiative, showing that 'from waste to product' transformation is scalable, replicable, traceable, commercially viable and most importantly, safe to use, both within the same and new supply chain products.