Programme: Horizon Europe (GA 101081931)
Date: 2023-2027
European plastics policy highlights bio-based plastics as a key to solving the negative impact of fossil-based plastics on the environment. One of the most promising biodegradable biopolymers is the family of polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA), which can replace these fossil plastics in many applications. They are synthesised by microorganisms from renewable carbon sources and have good properties and excellent biodegradability.
In this sense, the ViSS project will create a new value chain around PHBV (a copolymer of the PHAs family) as a safe, sustainable and cost-effective alternative to conventional plastics, especially for short shelf-life food packaging applications due to its excellent properties, including flexibility, processability, recyclability and biodegradability in relevant environments (soil, freshwater, marine, industrial and domestic composting). ViSS PHBV will be produced from industrial organic waste and will be formulated and compounded to be transformed and validated as high performance food packaging, being mechanically recyclable and biodegradable.
Moreover, the entire ViSS circular value chain will be built on a collaborative approach and under safe and sustainable criteria, complying with EU regulations and ensuring policy alignment, while the project will deliver and disseminate digital tools and resources that will favour greater social readiness and marketability of bio-based plastics, fostering wide adoption and replication of ViSS.
Our project brings together 15 partners from 6 leading European countries in different fields of knowledge, from the production of bioplastics to their validation in real packaging applications.
The adoption of the ViSS value chain will produce relevant results such as improved functionalities and environmental performance: 57.8% reduction of CO2 emissions compared to fossil counterparts, annual savings of 11.7 kt of crude oil, recirculation of 288.95 kt of biomass and avoidance of the use of 2.2 kt of hazardous substances.
