The Innovation Prize of the New Plastic Economy Initiative was awarded to a total of eleven projects. Already last autumn in Malta, the prizewinners of the Circular Design Challenge were chosen for their achievements. At the last World Economic Forum, staged at the winter-sports destination of Davos in January, the winners of the Circular Materials Challenge were selected as well.
A new solution for everyday objects.
More than eight million tonnes of plastic pollute our oceans every year. All stakeholders are called upon to find solutions so that plastics don’t become waste in the first place. This is the objective of the New Plastic Economy Innovation Prize launched by the Ellen MacArthur fund in May 2017. The contest searches for new solutions for the small plastic objects which are either too small or too complex to be recycled. Among them are 30 per cent of the plastic packaging articles currently produced worldwide. The New Plastic Economy Innovation Prize is funded with USD 2 million and contested in the categories Circular Design Challenge and Circular
Materials Challenge.
A contest in two categories.
The first category focuses on the countless small plastic products such as shampoo bottles, caps and covers, drinking straws and lids of coffee cups, etc. They account for ten per cent of the waste which is neither collected nor reused, i.e. which often ends up in the environment. The aim of the second category is to look for ways and means to reuse all plastic packaging articles. Scientists and researchers all over the world are asked to develop alternative materials which can be fully recycled or turned into compost.
Big enterprises participate.
The initiators of the Innovation Prize realise that the inventors alone are unable to introduce the developed solutions in the plastics economy. This is why they request the involvement of all producers, governments and investors. The list of leading brands, retailers and producers which intend to use nothing but reusable, recyclable or compostable packaging articles by 2025 already comprises eleven major enterprises, among them Amcor, L'Oréal, PepsiCo, Coca-Cola, Unilever and Walmart. These eleven jointly produce six million tonnes of plastic packaging parts per annum.
The winners of the Circular Materials Challenge.
- University of Pittsburgh
Thanks to nanotechnology, the team of the University of Pittsburgh is able to produce a multilayer material suitable for recycling. This makes it possible to make packaging bags for foodstuffs from one single material. Thanks to modification of the structure on a nano scale, each layer can display different properties which, in combination, result in a much better material. It can even be coloured without the use of pigments.
- Aronax Technologies of Spain
The Spanish team developed a magnetic additive which improves the air and humidity insulation of a material without impairment of its recyclability. The additive – small, plate-shaped particles of silicates and iron oxide – improves the barrier to gases such as oxygen and can be combined with recyclable and compostable plastics. As a multilayer application, it could replace, for example, toothpaste tubes or bags for foodstuffs and beverages.
- Full Cycle Bioplastics
Jointly with two partners, Full Cycle Bioplastics developed a multilayer packaging film. It consists of PHA derived from organic waste, and materials on a cellulose basis. The film is an equivalent alternative to oil-based products. Seeing as the PHA comes from organic sources, it can be composted and used again later for the production of new plastics.
- VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland Ltd
The VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland Ltd has de-veloped a compostable three-layer film. VTT derives two kinds of transparent wood cellulose from by-products of agriculture and forestry which display complementary barrier properties, and combines them in three layers. The resulting film is similar to a plastic product and suitable as packaging for muesli, rice, cheese and dried fruit.
- Fraunhofer Institute for Silicate Research (ISC)
The Fraunhofer ISC has developed a coating which optimises the performance of bio-based and biodegradable packaging products. This improves the storability and shelf life of the foodstuffs packed in it in a lasting manner, thereby clearly increasing the application possibilities of compostable materials. This makes it possible to dispense with non-recyclable multilayer films.
