The TARPAULIFE Project aims to find more sustainable recyclable materials to replace the PVC-coated polyester tarpaulins commonly used in lorries and coverings. A production plant for these fabrics will be set up with a capacity of 250,000 m2 per year. Two 2,500 m3 floating water bags will be manufactured with the new material to transport freshwater to the North Sea and the Mediterranean.
AIMPLAS
Tarpaulins are large sheets of strong, water-resistant material used for protection from extreme conditions. They're most commonly made from PVC-coated polyester, characterised by its low price and good resistance. However, they're also harder to recycle than other plastics.
The TARPAULIFE Project, which started in May 2024 and will run for two years, wants to prove that manufacturing large-area polyolefin coated fabrics, such as polyethylene and polypropylene, can compete in terms of cost with PVC-coated fabrics while being equally strong, flexible and water-resistant.
This new material will be mainly used to manufacture bags for transporting freshwater by sea, but it can also be applied to products like tarpaulins, commonly used in lorries and coverings. The main result will be a production facility of three-metre-wide polyolefin-coated fabrics with a production capacity of 250,000 m2/year one year once the project ends.
Solving water supply problems in a sustainable way
The technology was developed to carry water from high-production areas relatively close to places affected by drought, seasonal increases in demand and emergencies. It already brought great results like the REFRESH and XXL-REFRESH Projects financed by the European Commission. These successfully tested a floating water bag with a modular design and a zip connection.
Thanks to this new production plant, which will be located at the Milan's Ziplast facility, more than 100 water bags are expected to be produced in the three years after the project ends. Two million cubic metres of water will be stored at three fresh water storage sites. The proposed solution will help avoid the incineration of more than 2,000 tonnes of PVC and prevent more than 13 tonnes of CO2 from being released into the environment.
The project also aims to replicate the results in other sectors, like eco-friendly truck tarps and glacier tarpaulins, to demonstrate the sustainability of the new polyolefin fabric coating solution. This is done by quantifying the environmental and LCA-LCC benefits compared to the use of PVC-coated fabrics for all intended applications.