INCIRCULAR

1/ Unlocking the innovation potential of European regions in circular plastics. Plastics production and end-of-life seriously damage the environment. Innovative solutions are needed to produce new types of plastics that are environmentally friendly while offering technical properties and a cost line similar petroleum-plastics currently on the market. The goal: reaching second-life raw materials from 100% recycled plastics. In addition, new technologies are needed to be able to use this second-life raw material in the traditional production chains of the plastics production sector. Producing plastics that have less impact on the environment will support a sector that is currently receiving particularly critical perceptions from end users.

2/ Industrial Symbiosis: scaling INCIRCULAR. INCIRCULAR brings together three regional ecosystems involving complementary capabilities in a holistic demonstration project meant to scale up a unique process technology implemented in Slovenia while sourcing technologies from Spanish and French regions (process/digital twinning). INCIRCULAR thus enables cross-regional tech transfer through TRL6 to 9, in support to the setup of an interregional circular ecosystem that will scale at EU level. From a technological standpoint:

• Demonstrate the production of bioplastic sourced 100% from recycled plastic, 100% recyclable and presenting technical properties similar or better to current petro-plastics. This is based on the demonstration (TRL6 to TRL9) of a R&D process developed by TECOS (SI), in collaboration with an innovative SME (ES) and meant to be installed and deployed at the industrial site of Gorenje (SI).
• Integrate this new second-life material directly into the production chain of the Gorenje site by collaborating with Omaplast (SI) which will collect, sort, and recycle on site. The innovative integration of the digital twinning of plastic injection moulding developed by two SMEs (FR) is necessary to ensure the production.

TECOS, as the coordinator of the INCIRCULAR project, is responsible for the ongoing implementation of project activities (WP1 – Project management and coordination), the establishment of an interregional industrial ecosystem and the involvement of innovators from small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) within WP2, and the execution of the voucher competition, the preparation of material formulations for bio-composites, and all supporting material analyses in WP3.

For more information contact Simona Knežević Vernon: simona.vernon@tecos.si.