AIMPLAS organising inaugural International Seminar on Biotechnology for the plastics sector
Major progress has been made in biotechnology in recent years, as demonstrated by increased biotech applications in different sectors, including the plastics industry.
Biotechnology proposes and presents innovative solutions such as recovering organic and synthetic waste and transforming it into new sustainable raw materials, thus promoting implementation of the circular economy.
To address the challenges and opportunities of biotechnology in the plastics industry, and to showcase the trends and initiatives being implemented to achieve the goals of the European action plan, AIMPLAS, the Plastics Technology Centre, has organized the First International Seminar on Biotechnology Applied to the Plastics Sector, to be held online on 1-2 March.
In the first session, experts from the European Commission and the Spanish and European biotechnology industry will present the most recent sector data and discuss biotech regulation. In the next four sessions, biotech experts from raw material manufacturers, converters, machinery manufacturers, waste managers and recyclers, as well as technology centres and universities, will discuss topics of interest in the plastics sector, including the use of organic waste to obtain new plastics, the enzymatic processes used to recycle these materials, biotechnology’s role as an ally for recovering complex waste such as synthetic plastics and converting industry scrap into resources, as in the case of volatile organic compound emissions.
The seminar, sponsored by Novamont, will also provide an opportunity to tell success stories and discuss the first workshop of the BioICEP Project (Bio Innovation of a Circular Economy for Plastics), which is funded by the Horizon 2020 Programme under grant agreement number 870292.
The project’s aim is to develop sustainable, environmentally friendly alternatives to traditional petroleum-based plastics. It is now designing an innovative three-part process consisting of mechanical and biochemical disintegration, biocatalytic digestion with enzymes, and microbial consortia to accelerate degradation of traditional plastic and turn it into biopolymers and bioproducts that can be used as a natural biodegradable replacement for plastics in the packaging and pharma industries.