Nowadays, only 20% of the whole plastic production is recycled due to barriers such as the presence of complex fractions in the waste streams including contaminants or multilayer materials or the mix of plastics with other types of waste that cannot be sorted in a feasible way. This situation implies a high environmental impact when plastic waste is landfilled or incinerated, so new solutions other than mechanical recycling must be developed to significantly increase the amount of plastics being valorized into new feedstocks. PLASTICE was conceived to solve this need by developing a set of new valorization processes that are aligned with the most relevant roadmaps of chemical recycling technologies at European level. Therefore, main efforts will be devoted to the design, development and demonstration under real conditions together with EU waste managers of four valorization technologies: (i) MW-assisted pyrolysis; (ii) hydrothermal liquefaction; (iii) Combined gasification and chemical post-treatment and (iv) Cascade enzymatic hydrolysis. Moreover, PLASTICE overall approach will deploy innovative elements along the whole value chain with the objective of integrating green technologies for the new processes to become sustainable and closing the loop to deliver circular value chains around plastics (including textiles with plastic content). Therefore, PLASTICE works both upstream and downstream the valorization processes, integrating new sorting systems, quality upgrading technologies, digitalization tools and eco-design principles together with new business models linked to each step of the circular value chains. Following this approach, PLASTICE will impact on the amount of landfilled plastics and GHG emissions linked to process operation and fossil fuels-based feedstock. Its replication will be supported by contributing to the development of new standards and regulations, and by creating a community of followers supported by PLASTICE tools and consortium.

Industrial symbiosis (IS) has gain great attention in the last years due to its high potential for energy and resources savings. However, there is still a need for enhancing the knowledge base for IS in Europe, especially in what regards to the implementation and operation phases, which must be supported by harmonised frameworks and data reporting structures that ensure data accuracy and comparability in existing and new IS initiatives. Under this framework, CORALIS has been designed as a demonstration project for the generation of real experiences on the deployment of IS solutions and the overcoming of the barriers faced by these initiatives. In order to properly address this complex issue, CORALIS will address three factors (technical, managerial and economical) that will set the basis for the definition of the IS readiness level, a useful indicator establishing the feasibility of the overall IS initiative. In addition to specific developments on each of these factors, CORALIS will provide a harmonised framework for the monitoring of results and evaluation of their impact from a life cycle perspective. This impact assessment methodology will be implemented into a virtual assessment platform that will support the operation of the involved industrial parks. The overall approach of CORALIS will be demonstrated in a total of 3 industrial parks, each of them supported by an IS facilitator, a neutral actor in charge of guiding the IS initiative and exploiting its full potential. Moreover, 3 additional industrial parks will follow the project results in order to replicate them by implementing additional IS initiatives after the project’s end. Further replication is expected by gathering the project results in CORALIS Handbook for supporting the implementation of IS, by providing recommendations on regulation and standardization and by establishing a continuous dialogue with main European stakeholders following an ambitious dissemination and exploitation strategy.