2.6Mt of multilayers films waste are incinerated or landfilled every year due to a lack of economically and environmentally sustainable recycling solutions. Consequently, more than 3B€ multilayer plastic films value is lost to the economy every year. CIMPA (A CIrcular Multilayer Plastic Approach for value retention of end-of-life multilayer films) will develop a recycling value chain for post-industrial and post-consumer multilayer films (from food and agricultural applications) to retain 12 up to 72% of their value yield based on a synergetic approach combining (i) innovative compositional sorting (combining NIR- and digital watermarking sorting), (ii) mechanical and physical (dissolution) recycling, (iii) decontamination process and (iv) upgrading (advanced scCO2-based decontamination, properties tuning) solutions. Up to 2.34Mt/y of recycled materials will be saved and reintroduced in production to substitute virgin materials. A key objective of the overall process will be to produce recycled materials compliant with (i) agriculture standards and (ii) food contact applications. A challenge test will be submitted to the EFSA to validate the process decontamination performances down to concentrations not causing risks to human health. Environmental, health, safety and cost benefit assessment of the solutions will be conducted based on LCA and LCC analyses. A regulation survey and a SSH methodology ensuring systemic engagement and acceptance of all actors along the value chain will be implemented for a widespread integration of the solutions in the industry and civil society. CIMPA will retain in the economy 0,3B€ to 2,2M€/y of multilayer plastic films value, and reduce CO2 emissions by 2.1Mt/y, equivalent to 0.15% of whole EU CO2 emissions. CIMPA gathers 4 experienced RTOs , 2 cutting edge technology-provider SMEs , 1 waste management company, 3 producers of multilayers, 1 institute for consumer attitude/acceptance studies, 1 association representing the plastic recycling industry and 1 consultant company.

Due to the rapid growth of population, municipal solid waste (MSW) has contributed significantly to the total amount of waste generated by our society. Today in Europe, each habitant generates, in average, 0.5 tonnes of MSW per year, increasing at an annual rate of 10%. Around 40-50% of it correspond to organic waste. This organic fraction mainly contains carbohydrates, proteins and lipids, which are all useful raw material that can be converted to valuable products. Its valorisation will help to solve environmental pollution but also contributes to the transition from a linear to a renewable circular economy. Digestion and composting have contributed to the reduction of the biodegradable fraction of MSW sent to landfill. The low economical value of compost and biogas is limiting the sustainable implementation of separate sourcing systems since increasing citizen environmental (waste) taxes is then need to tackle important logistic costs. New biobased products can help to improve waste treatment environmental and socio-economical sustainability. The aim of URBIOFIN project is to demonstrate the techno-economic and environmental viability of the conversion at semi-industrial scale (10 T/d) of the organic fraction of MSW (OFMSW) into: Chemical building blocks (bioethanol, volatile fatty acids, biogas), biopolymers (polyhydroyalkanoate and biocomposites) or additives (microalgae hydrolisated for biofertilisers). By using the biorefinery concept applied to MSW (urban biorefinery), URBIOFIN will exploit the OFMSW as feedstock to produce different valuable marketable products for different markets: agriculture, cosmetics. URBIOFIN will offer a new feasible and more sustainable scenario alternative to the current treatment of the OFMSW.