Developing novel recycling technologies for complex plastic materials applying biotech solutions

Expected Outcome:

Project results are expected to contribute to all of the following expected outcomes:

• environment and society at large benefit from recyclable plastic products which can be recycled back into high value applications;
• industrial value chains introduce circular plastic products on the market through enhanced design for recycling and solutions for effective sorting and recycling on a large scale;
• industrial value chains are equipped with improved characterisation of waste from complex plastic materials to enable its recycling.

Scope:

The topic supports the European Green Deal, the Regulation on Packaging and Packaging Waste, the Waste Shipment Regulation, the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation and its working plan, the upcoming Circular Economy Act and contributes to Europe’s efforts to develop a single market for sustainable products. It also contributes to the new EU bioeconomy strategy, the Life Sciences Strategy and the EU Biotech Act and is relevant to the European Commission’s communication: ‘Building the future with nature: Boosting Biotechnology and Biomanufacturing in the EU’.

Proposals should:

• advance novel biotech solutions for recycling of complex plastic materials and products (multi-material/multi-layer/composites), namely in the sectors of packaging, construction, renewable energy infrastructure and transport;
• propose recommendations towards fit-for-purpose regulatory risk assessments for novel materials and recycling technologies (i.e. hazard identification, methodological updates) and take into account the Safe-and-Sustainable-by-Design framework;
• consider the latest solutions in material innovation while developing novel recycling solutions e.g. by application of microbes and enzymes for enhanced degradation of plastics;
• demonstrate the solutions on a pilot scale involving the whole value chain.

Successful proposals are expected to evaluate the feasibility, effectiveness and impact of the demonstrated solutions using robust evaluation methods (including lifecycle assessments such as product environmental footprint, where relevant) and present data and evidence about the economic, environmental and social costs and benefits of the developed solutions. Industrial value chains are expected to take part in the proposed consortia to enable a demonstration of the proposed solution and involve all relevant stakeholders. Clustering with other relevant Horizon Europe projects is encouraged. null Activities are expected to achieve TRL 4-5 by the end of the project – see General Annex B. Activities may start at any TRL.

Submissions open on 20 April 2027.

Part of call HORIZON-CL6-2027-01

Type of action: HORIZON Research and Innovation Actions

Programme period: 2021 - 2027

Priorities: DigitalAgenda, AI

"> General conditions

1. Admissibility Conditions: Proposal page limit and layout

described in Annex A and Annex E of the Horizon Europe Work Programme General Annexes.

Proposal page limits and layout: described in Part B of the Application Form available in the Submission System.

2. Eligible Countries

described in Annex B of the Work Programme General Annexes. A number of non-EU/non-Associated Countries that are not automatically eligible for funding have made specific provisions for making funding available for their participants in Horizon Europe projects. See the information in the Horizon Europe Programme Guide .

3. Other Eligible Conditions

described in Annex B of the Work Programme General Annexes.

4. Financial and operational capacity and exclusion

described in Annex C of the Work Programme General Annexes.

5a. Evaluation and award: Award criteria, scoring and thresholds

are described in Annex D of the Work Programme General Annexes.

5b. Evaluation and award: Submission and evaluation processes

are described in Annex F of the Work Programme General Annexes and the Online Manual .

5c. Evaluation and award: Indicative timeline for evaluation and grant agreement

described in Annex F of the Work Programme General Annexes.

6. Legal and financial set-up of the grants

Eligible costs will take the form of a lump sum as defined in the Decision of 7 July 2021 authorising the use of lump sum contributions under the Horizon Europe Programme – the F