SURPASS EU-Project successfully launched

On Wednesday and Thursday 6th and 7th of July, CEA, the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission, based in France, hosted the kick-off meeting of SURPASS.

SURPASS, which stands for Safe-, sUstainable- and Recyclable-by design Polymeric systems. A guidance towardS next generation of plasticS, is a 42-month long EU-funded project, part of the Research and Innovation Program Horizon Europe 2021. It lasts from June 1st 2022 to November 30th 2025, and has a total budget of 4.98 million Euros.

As plastic waste is accumulating on the planet at an alarming rate, provoking air, soil and water pollution due to hazard substances and greenhouse gas emissions, the SURPASS project was born to lead the transition towards more safe, sustainable and recyclable by-design (SSRbD) polymeric materials and aims to target three specific sectors representing 70% of the European plastic demand: packaging, building and transport.

Last month, during the kick-off meeting, the 13 partners of the consortium gathered to present their organization, their activity within the project and to draw the first steps of their future collaboration.

Along with the development of new polymeric materials in the three specific case studies, SURPASS will optimize reprocessing technologies to adapt them to the new SSRbD materials, and develop a scoring-based system to help designers, formulators and recyclers to develop the new polymers through the whole plastic life-cycle, notably according to specific criteria related to health, economy and environment. Finally, all the data will be merged to an open-access user-friendly digital infrastructure. Standardization and legislative obstacles will also be addressed at EU-level to further facilitate the transition towards green economy. The project will mostly target SMEs, representing 99% of enterprises.

The 13 partners, consisting of research and technology organizations and industries and led by CEA, are: Commissariat à l’Energie Atomique et aux Energies Alternatives, CEA (FRANCE), Centre Technique Industriel de la Plasturgie et des Composites, IPC (FRANCE), Fundación CIDETEC, CIDETEC (SPAIN), Acondicionamiento Tarrasense Associacion, LEITAT (SPAIN), Indresmat SL, INDRE (SPAIN), Université Grenoble Alpes, UGA (FRANCE), Geonardo Environmental Technologies LDT, GEONARDO (HUNGARY), BASF SE, BASF (GERMANY), Rijksinstituut Voor Volksgezondheid en Milieu, RIVM (NETHERLANDS), Asociación Española de Normalización, UNE (SPAIN), Fraunhofer Gesellschaft zur Forderung der Angewandten Forschung EV, ICT (GERMANY), Wipak Gryspeert Sas, WIPAK (FRANCE), Waste Free Oceans Europe, WFO (BELGIUM).

The SURPASS’ consortium is committed to find new SSRbD polymers to reduce plastic waste pollution to a large extent for a more sustainable future.