The project presented by the SUSTAINABLE PLASTICS Consortium, led by LOGOPLASTE INNOVATION LAB and APIP – ASSOCIAÇÃO PORTUGUESA DA INDÚSTRIA DOS PÁSTICOS, was approved by the Agenda Coordination Committee, with the objective of promoting the green transition from the Plastics Industry to the Circular Economy.

The PIEP (Centre for Innovation in Polymer Engineering) is part of the SUSTAINABLE PLASTICS consortium, which will encourage the transition to a Circular Economy in the plastics sector in Portugal. This was one of the first contracts signed under the Mobilizing Agendas for Business Innovation, the Recovery and Resilience Plan, in a public ceremony presided over by Prime Minister António Costa.

The SUSTAINABLE PLASTICS project aims to be the Mobilizing Agenda for Sustainable Plastics in Portugal, capable of leveraging the sector’s transition to a truly circular economy. It arises from an APIP initiative, led by LOGOPLASTE INNOVATION LAB. It aims to mobilize the private sector, national authorities, universities, and citizens to contribute to the objectives of the European Circular Economy. The initiative is based on three pillars:

• Reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions
• Greater resource efficiency
• Job creation

Given the complexity of the value chain of the Plastics Industry, which involves a vast number of Stakeholders (e.g. producers of plastic materials and raw materials, transformers, machinery and equipment manufacturers, brand owners, retailers and distributors, waste management, among many others), it has become essential to promote the creation of an innovation ecosystem capable of involving all these economic agents, as well as consumers, in order to address the challenges that the Circular Economy presents.

The Consortium brings together 39 Companies and 10 Non-Business Entities from the Scientific and Technological System, with the objective of covering all segments and subsectors of the Plastics Industry and responding to the main challenges faced by the agents of this new Extended Value Chain. Organizations were thus selected that, benefiting from technical, organizational, and technological skills and competencies, allow them to respond to the ambitious goals and objectives of the sector’s transition to the Circular Economy, also contributing to a more dynamic, exporting, and highly qualified Portugal.

The goals of SUSTAINABLE PLASTICS are:

• Introduce 21 innovative products to the market – which add value to the Circular Economy of Plastics and consumers

• 36 new patents – registering technological and scientific advances

• Scientific publications – sharing knowledge nationally and internationally

• 30% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions associated with production processes

It is expected that by December 2025, this Agenda will involve around 427 highly qualified human resources in the fields of science, engineering, and technology, promote more than 80 training actions and create new jobs.

SUSTAINABLE PLASTICS proposes a global investment amount of €39,161,831.64 (thirty-nine million, one hundred and sixty-one thousand, eight hundred and thirty-one euros and sixty-four cents) and will receive a national contribution of 24,447,875.19 € (twenty-four million, four hundred and forty-seven thousand, eight hundred and seventy-five euros and nineteen cents), and will be completed and with results achieved by December 31, 2025.