Launch of the POLREC project

The European project POLREC "Supporting a green and resilient Europe through POLymer RECycling" funded by "Euroclusters", of which Polymeris is the coordinator, has started on September 1, 2022.

The objective of the project is double: to enhance the polymer industry’s capacity to reduce the environmental impact of its products while increasing the European strategic autonomy in its supply of raw materials for polymer production.

To achieve those objectives, POLREC will help the industry to switch practices from polymers waste landfilling and burning towards polymer recycling (mechanical or chemical) into raw materials (monomer polymer and additive)

According to a study published by the European Parliament, in 2018 about 70% of plastic waste generated in Europe was burned for energy recovery (43%) or landfilled (25%). Therefore, the POLREC project aims to support and encourage SMEs to adopt chemical and mechanical recycling processes of plastic waste and to use raw materials from recycled polymers with the ambition of increasing the use of raw materials from recycled polymers from 6% in 2018 to 15% in 2023 and 40% over the next 10 years.

Funded by the European Commission as part of the "Euroclusters" initiative, the project involves five European partners:

• Polymeris, competitiveness cluster for rubber, plastics and composites (France)
• CENTIMFE, Technological Center for the Mouldmaking, Special Tooling and Plastic Industries (Portugal)
• MAV, Advanced Materials Cluster of Catalonia (Spain)
• WFG, regional agency for the economic development of the Heilbronn region (Germany)
• PCD, facilitator of the Danish Materials Network

This consortium of partners will support SMEs in the appropriation of polymers recycling methods through the implementation of the following actions :

• Developing a pan-European network of SMEs involved in polymer recycling and foster value chain inter-linkage between SMEs looking to recycle their plastic waste and SMEs willing to source recycled material and produce raw materials from recycled polymers.
• Promote to SMEs innovative solutions for mechanical and chemical recycling of polymer waste and digital monitoring of the recycling processes.
• Encourage the adoption by SMEs of innovative and viable business models promoting the use of recycled material.
• Train the workforce on polymer recycling technologies and digital solutions for recycled material quality monitoring and traceability.

With a total budget of 1.28 million euros for 3 years, the project foresees the implementation of cascade-funding for companies through 8 different open calls aiming to support SMEs in :

• The development of mechanical & chemical recycling solutions for polymers as well as digital solutions for recycled material quality monitoring and traceability.
• The technical training of the workforces on polymer recycling methods and digital solutions
• The development of business & technological partnerships with other European SMEs and the securing of their raw material supply chains.

The POLREC project is funded by the European Commission Joint Cluster initiatives for Europe’s recovery (Euroclusters) under the Single Market Programme (SMP COSME) grant agreement number 101074434. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or EISMEA. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.
This initiative supports projects that promote the implementation within industrial ecosystems of the new European industrial strategy.
The POLREC project partners will meet on September 29 and 30, 2022 in Brussels for the project’s kick-off meeting.