PLASTICITY
The European 2 Seas region (Channel and North Sea) is one of the most prolific regions in the European Union when it comes to generating plastic waste. However, recycling rates for plastics are between 20 and 30%. In urban environments, such as cities near water bodies, a lot of plastic waste is present that could technically be eligible for recycling, but is not. These "lost plastics" can play a key role in the local circular economy, providing an economic opportunity for actors and stakeholders to benefit from them by moving away from current plastic disposal methods. These economic opportunities are not fully known or understood, collection logistics are not fully developed, sorting facilities are not well equipped or stakeholders are not fully engaged. These are all barriers to realising the full potential of plastics in the circular economy that need to be overcome if the 2Mers region is to play a key role in the implementation of the European strategy for plastics in the circular economy.
Project budget: €9billion
The partners of the European project PlastiCity
The aim of the PlastiCity project
The aim of the PlastiCity project is to develop replicable strategies and solutions that can increase recycling rates in urban environments. Moving from 20-30% to over 50% involves unlocking the use of "waste plastics" as a secondary resource in the local urban environment. Additional objectives are to
- Develop technical strategies for (reverse) logistics and reprocessing,
- To induce behavioural change and build capacity for stakeholders such as local governments and businesses through urban platforms,
- Demonstrate in 4 cities in the 2Mers area (Ghent (Belgium), Den Haag (The Netherlands), Southend On Sea (Great Britain) and Douai (France)),
- Create new value chains and design new products, in particular by unleashing the full potential of "medium-sized" players (SMEs, offices, companies, etc.),
- Deploy a mobile unit for tests, demonstrations and awareness raising,
- Create business activity and jobs in the circular economy.
The main outcome of the project is a strategy to create PlastiCity hubs to significantly increase the recycling rates of waste plastics in urban environments. Such a hub is defined as a local network of relevant partners and physical infrastructure, supported by a digital environment/urban platform.
A multi-resource development process
A co-creation process involving industry, government, research and citizens will provide access to a wide range of urban and academic skills, expertise and approaches, as well as different national and local systems that will allow the identification of best practices, thus ensuring the development of a replicable and relevant model for other urban environments in the 2Mers region. Indeed, the cities of the 2Mers region present huge differences in terms of economic typologies, waste management systems and local and regional policies. Taking into account this variety and its impact on business models facilitates the evaluation of specificities and best practices and allows replication to other urban areas. PlastiCity involves 4 study cities, each focusing on demonstrating specific aspects of the strategy. To facilitate cross-border collaboration, PlastiCity involves a mobile unit that travels around the 2Mers region to carry out testing, demonstration and awareness-raising activities.
To date, these plastics remain lost because stakeholders do not clearly understand how these huge masses could be recovered and processed in an optimal way. Rather than developing entirely new technologies, PlastiCity focuses on finding new combinations of technical options and urban collaboration models with existing technologies. The project includes the development and demonstration of innovative sustainable logistics, linked to local solutions for massification in the city through the reuse and refining of plastic. These local platforms represent a breakthrough in providing technical solutions and contributing to increased awareness by triggering pro-environmental behavioural change and helping to set and achieve achievable recycling targets, inter alia by building urban platforms and gathering data and stakeholders in a systematic way. This will be the first project in the 2 Seas region that is specifically designed to support the implementation of the EU strategy on plastics in the circular economy.