PRESS RELEASES

Valencia – June 2019 – The representatives of 25 businesses, universities, research centres and trade associations and other organisations from all over Europe gathered in Valencia, Spain, on 12-13 June to kick-off a EU-funded project that aims to develop fully biodegradable, compostable or recyclable bio-based packaging materials for use in the food, pharmaceutical and clothing industries over the next three years.

Entitled “USABLE Packaging”, the project seeks to dramatically reduce the use of environmentally-harmful fossil-fuel-based packaging by developing a portfolio of high performance bio-alternatives based on bioplastics with adequate physical and chemical properties.

Simultaneously these bio-based solutions will create a sustainable, circular value chain where the end-of-life processes for the products – either biodegradation, composting or recycling through anaerobic digestion – generate the feedstock and biogas needed to manufacture the next round of packaging materials – reducing further the impact of plastic waste on the environment.

The “USABLE Packaging” process is funded by the EU and governed by the Bio-Based Industries Joint Undertaking (BBI-JU) as part of the EU Horizon 2020 programme. The consortium will report continuously against specific KPIs, with the first project review by BBI JU due in the spring of 2021. The project will close on 31 May 2022.

Throughout the project, led by Spain’s Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas (CSIC), partners will meet regularly and engage a range of stakeholders from the relevant industries either throughout the research and scientific process or at specific stages. The next general meeting of the consortium will take place in January 2020 in Bologna.

Summarizing the project, Prof. Jose Maria Lagaron, Project Co-ordinator, said: “USABLE, no leak to the environment, no leak to food waste, just the right packaging”.

David Newman, MD of the UK’s Bio-based and Biodegradable Industries Association (BBIA) added: “Using renewable and biodegradable wastes that would possibly otherwise require disposal or treatment, to make valuable innovative materials is a win-win situation for society and the economy”.

For further information, please contact:

Jocelyne Bia, BBIA

jb@bbia.org.uk
tel: +44 (0)7910878510