The MOEBIOS project addresses the challenges of recycling bioplastics into three key value chains: plastic packaging, synthetic textiles and agricultural plastic waste. In plastic packaging, inadequate sorting and recycling technologies only allow 6.3% of recycled content in the EU packaging market. Synthetic textiles contribute significantly to plastic waste worldwide, as only 0.06% of all textile waste is often recycled into new textile products. In agriculture, poor management practices cause bioplastic waste to be deposited in landfills, which contributes to environmental damage. In addition, the content of recycled plastic in agricultural applications is less than 22%.

The objective of MOEBIOS is to develop innovative processes to recycle bioplastics, generating products with high added value. This includes integrating recycling into the existing industry, focusing on bioplastics without current recycling methods, advancing mechanical recycling, improving enzymatic degradation for biorecycling, optimizing chemical recycling, and creating new routes at scale based on real industrial scenarios.

MOEBIOS will promote the industrialization of bioplastic recycling processes, generating important benefits. It will allow about 232,505 tons of mixed bioplastic waste to be processed annually, increase the recycled content in new products and develop efficient systems to classify and recycle plastic materials of biological origin. It will also improve environmental outcomes along the value chain compared to fossil or biological references, foster social acceptance of circular solutions, and facilitate future optimization of recycling and manufacturing according to user needs. In addition, it will establish new connections of industrial symbiosis between various actors in the value chain, introduce three innovative products in emerging markets, generate knowledge about waste flows and prevent 232,505 tons of plastics from ending up in landfills or incinerating, reducing 178 tons of greenhouse gas emissions per year. Finally, it will produce recycled plastic monomers to replace fossil equivalents in biobased products.

The project coordinated by ITENE associates 22 European partners, it is a 4-year project that began in June 2024.