Higher-quality recycled plastics so that they can be better recycled. That is the aim of the INTERREG project Di-Plast. The ambition is that in three and a half years' time almost a hundred companies in the East of the Netherlands will be taking part in the new plastic cycle and recycling more than 100,000 tons of plastic.
The construction and packaging industries are two major consumers of plastic: 40% of all plastic is used in construction and 20% of all plastic ends up as packaging. Both sectors still use little recycled plastic; 18% in construction and 8% in packaging respectively. A major reason for this is the poor and inconsistent quality of the recycled plastic on offer. The solution to this problem is to recycle plastic from the construction and packaging industries in a high-quality manner.
This creates renewable plastic of a high and consistent quality, which is good for manufacturers to make new products from. To make this possible the partners within Di-Plast, together with the SME, are developing ICT systems and tools to collect and analyse information. This makes it possible to follow the plastic through all the links in the chain. In this way, it is known exactly where it comes from, what its quality is and where it is good to recycle.
Boost for East Netherlands plastics industry
Di-plast is an INTERREG project, a European programme that stimulates cross-border cooperation between companies and knowledge institutions. At the end of October the European INTERREG programme approved Di-Plast. Di-Plast is a cooperation between regions from Germany, Luxembourg and the south and east of the Netherlands.
Oost NL is the initiator of Di-Plast from the eastern part of the Netherlands and developed this project together with Polymer Science Park (PSP, the innovation centre for plastics in Zwolle) on behalf of the provinces of Overijssel and Gelderland. Both provinces are co-financing Di-Plast. This gives the project a total size of 4 million euro. Oost NL and PSP cooperate with universities, research institutions and companies in the implementation. Di-Plast thus gives the plastics industry in the East of the Netherlands a boost in the direction of a smart, future-proof and circular industry.
