February 2023

In the next months we have organised a number of trainings and exciting events and conferences for you all!
This newsletter feature will point you at key links and information for you to check our plans and register for events relevant for your work.
Looking forward to seeing you there!

While modern economies highly depend on plastics in Europe with consumes in the range of 50 million tons per year, only 25-31% of the plastic waste in Europe is currently recycled and the larger share is incinerated or even landfilled (high variability between countries). We still landfill nearly 40-50% of plastic waste. Today, in Europe 70% of the packaging used in a wide variety of applications in different market sectors – including food, pharmaceuticals and clothing – is not recyclable. It consists mostly of multi-layer packaging, with each layer composed of different polymers that perform specific functions, making it technically non-recyclable. The end-of-life phase for this packaging, therefore, is either incineration or landfill.
Moreover, the compostable bio-based packaging that is currently available mainly ends up in industrial composting facilities. This is because other biological waste treatment processes like anaerobic digestion and home composters are generally not suitable for most of the current compostable polymers.

What are the Potential Solutions? In the past few years several projects funded by the Bio-based Industries Joint Technology Initiative such as BIOnTop Project, Usable Packaging and many others have developed novel alternative solutions to ‘eco-design’ packaging products to avoid the incineration and landfill routes at their end-of-life phase, rerouting them instead towards approved and accepted applications, where they can add value without adding an environmental burden.

For whom is this conference? This conference is open to representatives of projects and organisations working on the development bio-based packaging products that are biodegradable/ compostable and/or recyclable. It is open to research organisations, industrial representatives, but also to consumer organisations, recyclers and composting plant representatives.

Abstract Submission: Open until 31 March 2023 end of business. Submit your abstract here: https://biontop.eu/final_event.php

Conference Registration: The registration will be done on a first come first served basis. https://biontop.eu/final_event.php
The attendance to the conference is for free.

When: 11 May 2023, from 8:30 to 15:30
Where: Maritim Hotel Düsseldorf, Maritim-Platz 1, 40474 Düsseldorf, Germany
BIOnTop contact person: Sergio Quesada quesada@enco-consulting.it

We asked BIOnTop partners to summarize their key contributions and achievements in less than 60 seconds. Discover what they have done in the project and what their main achievements are in these video pills.

EU project BIOnTop: Meet the partners, get to know the key results

7 and 14 March 2023: Training on Safety and Risk Management for Novel Products and Processes
BIOnTop Partner ARCHA is inviting you to this insightful online training in two modules for those of us working with food contact materials.

Organisations working on the implementation of new products and processes are often unsure about ensuring compliance to the EU directives on safety and health at work.

Novel processes do not fall easily in the regulatory framework already in place. If you are wondering about these questions, this training is for you:

• What are the specific legal requirements you need to be aware of?
  
  
• What is the broader legal and regulatory framework?
  
  
• How can you focus on the risk management and risk assessment?
  
  
• How can you ensure the compliance to the EU directives related to health and safety at work (https://osha.europa.eu/en/safety-and-health-legislation/european-directives)?
  
  
• How can you ensure compliance to health and safety requirements for novel products, in particular for food contact packaging products?
  
  

During this training, ARCHA will provide contents and insights to make sure you can achieve compliance.

Total training time: 4 hours over 2 days.
Dates: Tuesday 7 March and Tuesday 14 March 2023 from 9-11 am.
Where: Online
Target audience: All organisations (public and private) working on this topic. We encourage BIOnTop consortium partners to sign up, but we are open also registrations from representatives of other funded by BBI/CBE JU or Horizon 2020/ Horizon Europe.
Language: English.
Trainer: Francesca Braca, ARCHA (https://www.archa.it/en/)
Register for the training: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/safety-and-risk-management-for-novel-products-processes-module-1-tickets-514831864967
BIOnTop contact for the organisation: Chiara Bearzotti euprojects@european-bioplastics.org

10 May 2023, BIOnTop at INTERPACK Workshop on “BIOnTop Novel biobased Packaging: From Research to Market?”
Get insights into the latest research developments and on the upscaling of novel biobased, recyclable packaging materials. Meet the BIOnTop experts and explore business opportunities!

BIOnTop has focused on recyclable (material and organic) home compostable mono-materials, multilayer trays and films compatible with MAP, recyclable and reusable coated woven fabrics, and secondary packaging from SRM. The developed demonstrators find potential applications in tea bags, trays, films, bags- and food wraps, as packaging for fruits and vegetables, dairy products but also for personal care products.

The session includes short presentations by BIOnTop experts followed by an interactive format to bring you in dialogue with the demonstrators’ representatives.

Confirmed speakers: Markus Schmid and Corina Reichert (Albstadt-Sigmaringen University), Willem Uyttendaele (CENTEXBEL), Steven Verstichel (Organic Waste System Research Foundation), Michiel Platteeuw (Sioen Industries), Sergio Mendoza (WeAreBio), Antonio Riaño (Innotech).

When: 10 May 2023
Time: from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m
Where: Messe Düsseldorf, Stockumer Kirchstraße 61, 40474 Düsseldorf At the fair Interpack, Hall 1, Room 16a. You will need a valid ticket to access Interpack to join the workshop. Please purchase it in advance to the workshop. The Interpack ticket can be purchased online on the website of Interpack https://www.interpack.com/en/Visit/Tickets/Tickets_Catalogs
The workshop itself is free of charge.
Register for this event: https://www.european-bioplastics.org/biontop-workshop-at-interpack-2023/
BIOnTop contact: Chiara Bearzotti, euprojects@european-bioplastics.org

ENCO and AIMPLAS are organizing the final internal project meeting, in the late afternoon of the 11 May 2023, right after the BIOnTop conference mentioned on the second page of this newsletter. A mandatory meeting for all partners to attend.

For whom? This is for BIOnTop consortium partners only. At least one representative for each partner must attend the meeting.

Goal of the meeting: We will discuss the final results of the project, especially for WP4, WP5 and WP7, with at there since we will discuss important issues on the project closure and the final activities (reporting included!). This meeting will follow the same structure as the meeting in December 2022 in Pisa.

When: 11 May 2023, from 16:30 to 20:30 Where: Maritim Hotel Düsseldorf, Maritim-Platz 1, 40474 Düsseldorf, Germany
Programme of the meeting 16:00-18:30 Reporting from the work packages: We will go through the work packages, check if the work is completed. Project management report and guidelines for the preparation of the final report.
18:30-20:30 Networking reception (free of charge for the partners).

Register for this event: A template has been circulated on 9 February for the registration via mail to the BIOnTop consortium. Please fill it out and send it to Sergio Quesada quesada@enco-consulting.it

There’s a lot happening in Europe right now with the EU’s recent commitment to become climate neutral by 2050 and the required transition towards a circular economy and support for the bioeconomy. There is just so many relevant policy developments going on at the moment – from Taxonomy to Climate Law, Sustainable Products, Food Systems, Biodiversity, Plastics and Packaging, Waste – all of which affect bioplastics in one way or other, and what we are doing in BIOnTop.

Open Consultation of the European Commission on New Product Priorities for Ecodesign for Sustainable Products open until 12 May 2023

The European Commission is planning an update of the policy framework for bioplastics and the Sustainable Products Initiative (SPI). SPI is the overarching key project bundling the EC’s environmental policy. In contrast to other measures which focus on end-of-life phase, this policy aims at establishing sustainability throughout the entire product lifecycle. The Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR) proposal will be the cornerstone of SPI: it will have a major impact on product design and market access.
Some of the most relevant elements of the SPI are the:

• Use of PEF and LCA methods is seen critical when bio-based and fossil-based products are directly compared.
• The Digital Product Passport includes obligation for manufacturer to provide information on chemical composition of material.

All our presentations and posters are uploaded to Zenodo for granting you all Open Acces, long-term, extending the life of the results well beyond the lifetime of the project.
Have you already checked what is available on Zenodo?
https://zenodo.org/communities/biontop/

For other relevant news, have a look on the BIOnTop tech watch.