REDesigned sUstainable ContainErs and pallets

The REDUCE project is part of the Green Agenda for Business Innovation | Packaging of the Future | + Ecological + Digital + Inclusive.

The project`s goal is to reuse or recycle industrial waste in an integrated circular process for pallets and containers. Thus, it is intended to develop the concept and implement an industrial pilot line that allows the reduction of the consumption of natural resources (virgin raw materials), with the reincorporation of “waste” generated from non-conformities, used or damaged packaging, or production surpluses and purges.

This project involves distinct lines of research and development:

• Collecting, screening, repairing, and/or deconstruction of end-of-life wooden packaging products to reintroduce their components in the production process, extending the component’s life cycle;
• Recycling the collected end-of-life plastic products (purges, production surpluses), to incorporate in virgin material, developing new products from recycled materials;
• Development and production of a new range of more efficient and resistant foldable plastic boxes and new, more hygienic pallets, with an impact on the reduction of logistics and hygiene costs and with less environmental impact.

In this project, PIEP is responsible for:

• Characterization (through the use and/or adaptation of standard tests and non-conventional methods, combined with numerical simulation processes) of the products to be developed and the baseline products that will serve as a basis and comparison between the versions of the products to assess how the new ones they can not only replace the old ones but also improve them, in terms of performance and/or environmental impact;
• Product development tasks, investigating and giving inputs to achieve an innovative product. For this, the team uses a range of commercial software and databases, as well as the know-how developed in past projects;
• Lifecycle and cost assessments (LCA and LCC).