MANDALA will develop new adhesives with dual functionality (easy to split and barrier properties) by incorporating thermoreversible covalent bonds and radiation absorbing nanoparticles, which at the same time will generate a tortuous path enhancing barrier properties that are critical for end-user. In addition, new polymer blends with increased biobased and recycled content of film layers will be developed. Their combination in a multilayer product will set the basis for new food (meat, ready-to-eat) and pharma (pill blister) packaging products. MANDALA project will demonstrate that the de-lamination technology can be up-scaled and applied to reach intermediate solutions for multilayer/multimaterial packaging (being biobased or not) progressively helping to become the end-of-life more sustainable by recovering all fractions and providing clean streams for their biodegradation or recycling.

SEALIVE will reduce plastic waste and contamination on land and in seas by boosting the use of biomaterials and contributing to the circular economy with cohesive bio-plastic strategies. It proposes advanced circular strategies that prevent and substantially limit pollution. This solution will be tested in Cyprus, Denmark, France and Ireland. It will be developed under recycling, biodegradability and composting norms for advanced systems. The project aims to develop circularity techniques and end-of-life solutions that will support sustainable bio-based plastics solutions. The solutions will be tested in eight cases representing high pollution potential for land and sea.

PRESERVE will enhance bio-based packaging in terms of properties that currently limit the application of bioplastics as well as in terms of the improvement of the end of life.The benefits deriving from new approaches and uses of bioplastics, adhesives and biopolymers can help upcycling materials used and create secondary raw material to create new products, thus reducing the waste generated and the impact on landfill waste.Packaging solutions developed from an upcycling point of view will not only optimally preserve food and drinks, but also our finite resources and the environment.

The EU-funded BIOnTop project will help shape the future of the plastics sector via recyclable-by-design cost-competitive packaging solutions. The packaging will be made from renewable resources and will be biodegradable in home-composting conditions as well as recyclable for secondary packaging.

The EU-funded CelluWiz project will develop two advanced procedures that can produce environmentally friendly packaging materials. The project is supported by five partners from four EU countries specialised in real-time operating systems (RTOs) and packaging. The new materials are based on micro fibrillated celluloses (MFC) and will be recyclable and compostable, while ensuring the protection of foods and goods.

BioBarr concerns the development of new bio-based and biodegradable food packaging materials by enhancing barrier functionalities to the biopolymer PHAs (polyhydroxyalkanoates) and by validating the new material in the food industry environment.PHAs is potential substitute for conventional polymers, since they possess similar properties; respect to polylactic acid (the most widespread biobased/biodegradable material), PHAs show higher biodegradability and better functional properties and mechanical strength.

The BIOSMART project proposal has the ambition to develop active and smart bio-based and compostable packages addressing the needs of fresh and pretreated food applications. Moreover, the novel packaging system will form the basis for tailoring performance and functionality to specific flexible and rigid food packages in diverse market segments. 

Agrimax is an EU-funded project that is developing and demonstrating the production of multiple, high-value products from crop and food-processing waste. The project is also developing economically competitive routes to the commercialisation of these products, using flexible, and possibly cooperatively run processing facilities.

The GLOPACK (Granting society with LOw environmental impact innovative PACKaging) project is investigating food packaging with no environmental footprint and the ability to extend the shelf life of food products.The project is focusing on three food packaging areas:biodegradable materials made from agro-food residues, active packaging to improve food preservation and shelf life without additives, RFID enabled wireless food spoilage indicators linked to food date labels

Mypack general objective is to help sustainable food packaging technologies to reach or to extend their market. It will provide general guidelines to select the best market for a new technology and to ensure the best commercial development, through (i) the best environmental efficiency (direct impacts of packaging, food waste impacts, optimized recycling composting combusting end life, preserved consumer health), (ii) the best consumer acceptability, and (iii) an optimized industrial feasibility.

The project aims at the valorization of agricultural residues coming from mushroom (Agaricus Bisporus) farming residues as a case to set up new cascading possibilities using innovative procedures to extract high value bio-based additives (antioxidants, antimicrobials, proteins), convert lipids into bioplasticizers and polysaccharides (glucans and fermentable sugars) into biopolymers using remaining side streams in substrates to close the agricultural cycle by composting and/or biogas synthesis. The funguschain project will demonstrate its industrial viability by building a new biorefinery that will use cost-effective extraction technologies (MAE and HWPE) revalorizing more than 65% of waste into valuable additives.

The main objective of YPACK is the pre-industrial scale up and validation of two innovative food packaging solutions (thermoformed tray and flow pack bag) based on PHA, with active and passive barrier properties. New packaging will use food industry by-products (cheese whey and almond shells), assure the biodegradability and recyclability, and reduce food waste, in the frame of the EU Circular Economy strategy.

Nenu2PHAr partners will develop an original route to produce PHA (Polyhydroxyalkanoate) from sustainable and renewable resources: micro-algae biomass using CO2 as carbon source and processed by selected bacterial strains. PHA are a group of biopolymers recognised as attractive substitutes to fossil fuel-derived plastics in a wide range of applications. Indeed, they are renewable, biodegradable and bio-based polyesters.

The project BIO-PLASTICS EUROPE addresses the topic „Sustainable solutions for bio-based plastics on land and sea“ (Topic identifier: CE-BG-06-2019), within the focus area „Connecting economic and environmental gains - the Circular Econonmy (CE)“ and will focus on sustainability strategies and solutions for bio-based products to support the Plastics Strategy. This shall include innovative product design and business models facilitating efficient reuse and recycling strategies and solutions, including ensuring the safety of recycled materials when used for toys or packaging food stuffs.

The USABLE PACKAGING project plans to develop biomass-based, biodegradable raw materials from food processing streams. Scientists will then use those materials to produce packaging that rivals conventional petrochemical-based ones in technical characteristics and performance. To round out the benefits, the packaging can be recycled in two ways, either through conventional organic recycling to yield biogas or through biotech recycling for reuse in USABLE PACKAGING. The end result will be a sustainable, bio-based product within a circular value chain.

PROLIFIC applies new, innovative, technological and industrial solutions to transform agro-industrial residues into higher value products. It will provide proteins, polyphenols, chitosan and fibres for applications in the food, animal feed, packaging and cosmetics sector.

The objective of NEWPACK is to validate in industrial setting the production of at least two new bio-plastics based on PHB- PLA blends with improved sustainability performance, obtained by the addition of natural extracts with antioxidant/antibacterial properties and nanoadditives from cellulose and chitin. A new circular economy value chain will be generated from agro-food wastes that will be exploited for the production of PHB, while designing and validating the process up to pilot scale.

POWER4BIO project aims at empowering regional stakeholders to boost the transition towards bioeconomy regions in Europe by providing them with the necessary tools, instruments and guidance to develop and implement sound sustainable bioeconomy strategies. In particular, POWER4BIO will define a methodology based on a 3-steps approach (stakeholders engagement, regional analysis and strategy development) to guide European regions when preparing and reviewing their regional bioeconomy strategy and its associated implementation plan (roadmap), and which will be ultimately integrated in a Bioregional Strategy Accelerator Toolkit. POWER4BIO will also develop a catalogue of bio-based business models, including best practice examples, to support regions understand, identify and select the most adequate bio-based solutions for developing their bioeconomy and POWER4BIO will issue recommendations to use and align the main funding instruments and policies in Europe to support bioeconomy business models.