Conventional fossil-carbon plastics represent a significant environmental challenge due to their large carbon footprint and poor biodegradability in natural environments. A substantial portion of plastic production is dedicated to food packaging, contributing heavily to global plastic pollution. PHA (polyhydroxyalkanoate), a biopolymer naturally produced by bacteria, presents a promising alternative as it is fully biodegradable, renewable, and has a low carbon footprint. However, despite its environmental benefits, PHA currently faces significant barriers to widespread adoption: it is expensive, compostable but not recyclable, and hard to process and therefore has to be blended with other less environmentally friendly polymers to form plastics.

Aim: The SATISPHACTION project will address these issues by developing innovative recycling processes for PHA, with computational assistance. Moreover, the consortium will develop new formulations with increased PHA content, no harmful additives, and thermostable enzymes for accelerated self-degradation. We will demonstrate the viability of these advances through three specific food packaging use cases. We will demonstrate the complete biodegradation of these plastics in natural soils, and fresh and marine water environments, and determine their complete lifecycle impacts.

Several studies have identified 3 main waste streams that are the most promising for being valorised to obtain bio-based fertilisers (BBFs): (1) manure, (2) sewage sludge, and (3) food chain waste. From these, manure is the largest waste stream, representing more than 70% of the nutrients, but several studies have been conducted in the last 10 years aimed at its valorisation as BBF and have shown that it is a feasible feedstock for obtaining N-rich streams and organic amendments that can be used directly as BBF, but most of them are not suitable to be used as ingredients for centralised high quality fertiliser production due to the presence of pollutants such as heavy metals (mainly Zn and Cu) and organic matter. Sewage sludge and food chain waste have not yet been deeply investigated at the levels required for industrial implementation, such that their fertilising potential is still under-exploited. 

Aim: The ReLEAF project is based on the advancement and widespread demonstration (in 5 technology demonstration sites) of a suite of extraction techniques to produce key BBF ingredients from waste streams prevalent across Europe – sewage sludge, fish processing waste and wastewater, mixed food waste, and agri-food residues. 

UPSTREAM is a Horizon Europe Innovation Action project that aims to improve the cleanliness and water quality of European rivers that flow through several major European capitals and into five sea basins. The project is based on the widespread deployment and demonstration of a suite of 15 advanced solutions that address the serious issues of pollution from litter, plastics, and microplastics in 7 European rivers along 5 pillars – monitoring, prevention, elimination at wastewater treatment plants, elimination from rivers, and valorisation of collected plastics. Investigations of the effectiveness and replicability of the solutions within the varying ecosystems of 5 different demonstration sites will allow for engagement with regions beyond the partnership to quickly scale up the solutions, contribute to the Mission objectives, and expand the water system knowledge base throughout Europe.

Aim: The problem of litter (L), plastics (P), and microplastics (MP) in the European river systems needs to be addressed at several points in the water supply systems – before wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs), after WWTPs, and in the rivers themselves. The overall objective of UPSTREAM is thus to address pollution at every point in the path of L, P, and MP, from creation until ending up in the seas, while engaging stakeholders at all levels – industry, government, and citizens. Coupling the technical demonstrations with analysis of circular (bio-based) value chains, environmental and economic sustainability assessments, and focused efforts on knowledge co-creation and replication will accelerate the reduction of pollution in European rivers. 

The management of food waste (FW) and petroleum plastics pollution is a growing global concern. One solution is to valorise waste streams via biopolymers and added-value bioplastic products derived from low-grade FW. Today, high production costs of bioplastics prevent their market penetration. 

Aim: To overcome this challenge, the EU-funded BioLaMer project will demonstrate an innovative proof of principle fly larvae biorefinery by establishing food-eating black soldier fly larvae (Hermetia illucens) as a high-impact feedstock for cost-effective production of polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA) and chitosan biopolymers. The larvae solution is renewable and inexpensive, provides less complexity as the larvae have invariable chemical composition, mitigates the FW problem, reduces raw material inputs, is biodiversity-friendly, and avoids/reduces pretreatment costs for biopolymer production.

The AgriLoop consortium aims to extend the agricultural production value of two major players of the global bioeconomy: the European Union and China, by eco-efficiently upgrading under-exploited residues into a portfolio of high added-value bio-products able to generate new bio-based markets or to compete with, and gain market share of, oil- and food crop based equivalents. AgriLoop will develop safe-and-sustainable-by-design (SSbD) bioconversion processes integrated in a cascading biorefinery approach to convert a range of agri-residues (from e.g. tomato, soy, straw, potato, brewery, oil, winery and livestock sectors) into plant and microbial proteins, polyesters and other bio-based chemicals to be used for food, feed, health and materials applications, especially by the farming sector.

AgriLoop scientific and technical objectives are to improve the recovery of highly functional native molecules from primary and secondary residues and to tailor bioconversion schemes toward microbial proteins and polyesters, for overcoming in a balanced way the limitations related to feedstock complexity, processes eco-efficiency and end-products performances, and in parallel anticipate the complex circularities of such biorefinery to comply with safe and sustainable requirements, guide scientific and technological advances of AgriLoop cascading processes toward end-products tailored to the just necessary (frugal design) and fast track their further adoption as demonstrated in upscaling selected biorefineries schemes.

AgriLoop will increase resources efficiency through reduced discharges of agricultural residues, while taking share of the highly dynamic worldwide markets of alternative proteins and biochemicals (incl. biopolymers) and reducing the cost of agriculture and food system on our environment and health.