It has already been 18 months since the RECOVER BBI-JU project began. 18 months of intense work selecting and pretreating the plastics to be used, and analyzing the microorganisms, earthworms and insects that are going to be used for plastic degradation and recovery.
Even combining different organisms, the biodegradation of these plastic waste is not easy. That is why, in RECOVER, we want to go one step further by developing “better than nature” enzymes to try to achieve the project objectives in terms of percentages of degradation of plastics.
RECOVER BBI-JU is a research and innovation project that seeks to offer alternatives to the problem of plastic waste used in both the agricultural and food sectors. The plastics under study in this project are those generated as waste from the food packaging industry and agriculture, two sectors that consume approximately 44% of plastic production.
Most of these plastic waste are recovered by conventional recycling (31%), but there is a significant fraction that cannot be properly recycled either because they are mixed with other materials or because they are made up of multilayer plastics, so many of them are incinerated or taken to landfills; generating a major pollution problem.
The plastics selected in the first phase for the development of the activities in the project are those commonly used in agriculture and food packaging (mainly polystyrene, polyethylene terephthalate, and polyethylene).
RECOVER BBI-JU, through the action and research of its 17 collaborating entities, works to offer new bio-recycling routes, using living organisms (microorganisms, earthworms, and insects) and enzymes.
RECOVER BBI-JU, not only focuses on providing these biotechnological solutions but also globally to propose strategies for the management of these end-of-life plastics.
In relation to biological treatment, RECOVER BBI-JU works on the selection of organisms under the premise of combining the action of insects and earthworms together with several microbial consortia to generate the most powerful processes for the decomposition and bioconversion of the aforementioned plastic waste.
In a first phase of project development, laboratory-scale tests with live organisms breaking and digesting the plastics have been successfully carried out, which will be replicated in living-labs (laboratories with real industrial production conditions).
In terms of obtaining value, the project aims to obtain (among others) various valuable compounds such as, for example, chitin from insect exoskeletons for direct application or through its transformation into chitosan. Both chitin and chitosan can be raw materials for the production of bioplastics as well as various additives of high interest due to their biocidal power. Likewise, the economic potential of the by-products from insects and earthworms rearing in the generation of biofertilizers will be evaluated.
This activity will revert to environmental eco-services that will encourage the removal and biodegradation of microplastics that are polluting our strip of fertile land and nearby natural environments.
The project is markedly innovative in combining the activity of all these living organisms and obtaining the high added-value products generated by this activity.
RECOVER BBI-JU will propose both biotechnological solutions and management strategies for this waste generated both in the agricultural sector and food packaging.
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