The PROSPER project has at its principle aim the sorting and recycling of bioplastics found in municipal waste streams. The failure of current recycling systems to recognise bioplastics is a major barrier to the growth of the use of bioplastics as they are rarely recycled unless through organic waste systems, which few countries have. When mixed with other plastics, they are very difficult to separate and this causes contamination of both streams. Hence they are considered less “circular”, a negative perception as the EU advances circular economy policies.
In this article, the PROSPER consortium is proud to announce its first test results undertaken by NTCP of the Netherlands of sorting bioplastics from a plastic waste mix.
The conclusions are that the trial proved that bio-based plastics — in both film and rigid forms — can be successfully detected and separated from conventional plastics like PET and PE. The separated bioplastics included PLA from Futerro and starch blends and a range of biopolyesters from Biotec. The materials were sorted in such a way that they can be used in downstream mechanical and chemical recycling.
“This is an important milestone, creating a dedicated stream of bio-based plastics is the first step towards building a large-scale recycling system tailored to these materials.”
PROSPER team
A selection of photos is available at this link.
This project is co-funded by the Circular Bio-based Europe Joint Undertaking (CBE JU) under the Horizon Europe program and the Bio-based Industries Consortium (BIC), Grant Agreement 101157907.
For more information please contact newman@bioeconomybureau.eu or Marcel van Eijk, R&D Manager at NTCP, mvaneijk@ntcp.nl.
