LE2C is one of 21 partners in the European project SYSCHEMIQ - Demonstrator of SYstemic Solutions for the territorial deployment of the circular economy in the Trilateral CHEMIcal Region with a focus on plastic waste streams Quality for Recycling.
The project, funded by the European Union's Horizon Europe Program - CIRCBIO-01-01 Cluster 6-2021-CIRCBIO-01: CIRCULAR CITIES & REGIONS INITIATIVE (CCRI)'s CIRCULAR SYSTEMIC SOLUTIONS(IA) - with a budget of €9.6 million, runs for 48 months (May 2022 - May 2026) and aims to accelerate the transition to a circular plastics economy.
Contest
The project is designed to contribute to an increase in the recycling and reuse of plastic in new products. Currently, only 42% of the plastic packaging that ends up in European households is collected for recycling. The rest is disposed of in landfills or incinerated. The European Union (EU) has set a goal that in three years, half of all consumer plastics must be collected for recycling, and by 2030, this target figure must increase to 55%. Plastic recycling also makes a substantial contribution to reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
Objective
SYSCHEMIQ promotes a systems approach that touches all stages of the value chain, involving different types of relevant stakeholders, with the ultimate goal of creating urban-industrial plastic districts.
The focus is on collecting, sorting, and recycling used plastic but also on designing plastic materials that can help improve recycling. In addition to the technical aspects of this transition, the interests of citizens and local and regional authorities and knowledge institutes (higher education and university programs) are also explicitly addressed.
LE2C's tasks
LE2C is involved in the Work Package 8 "Dissemination, Communication, Replication and Exploitation".
Specifically, it will support the following tasks:
- Promote replicability of the SYSCHEMIQ stistemic model in the Lombardy Region (Italy) by organizing workshops and webinars to disseminate and share the digital tools and activities that will be developed whitin the project;
- Create regional platforms that gather relevant stakeholders;
- Collaborate in the production of communication materials.
LE2C will be supported in dissemination activities by Assolombarda.
Partners
The other project partners are:
In the Netherlands: Brightlands Chemelot Campus; SABIC; TNO; the Province of Limburg; municipality of Sittard-Geleen; Maastricht University; Zuyd University of Applied Sciences; Chemelot Innovation and Learning Labs (CHILL); Sustainable Packing Knowledge Institute Foundation (KIDV); Morssinkhof Plastics Zeewolde; Limburg Circular Waste Cooperative (ASL).
In Belgium: Plastic Recyclers Europe; European Chemical Regions Network (ECRN); University of Ghent; Limburg Provincial Development Agency; PlastIQ.
In Germany: Source One GmbH; Fraunhofer; Siegwerk Druckfarben.
In Switzerland: University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzerland.
In Italy: Lombardy Energy Cleantech Cluster.
For more information on the project, visit the dedicated website: https://www.syschemiq.eu/