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Innovative approaches towards prevention, removal and reuse of marine plastic litter

Project description

Innovative plastic recovery strategies for aquatic ecosystems

Plastic waste severely impacts marine and local ecosystems, requiring innovative cleaning approaches. The EU-funded In-No-Plastic project will develop and demonstrate nanoplastic, microplastic and macroplastic cleaning technologies based on a combined methodology of social and technical removal strategies. The project will focus on industrial hotspots through cooling water systems, harbours, lagoons, shores and shallow sea water. The technical strategy consists of the comparison between existing methods and multiple developing technologies for the removal of plastics at different testing areas in Europe and the Caribbean. The social strategy focusses on the engagement of the local population by incentivising plastic recovery in return for monetary or another recompense. The project will also investigate different recycling methods, aiming to connect plastic removal with circularity.

Objective

In-No-Plastic’s goal is to develop and demonstrate nano-, micro, and macro-plastic clean-up technologies in the aquatic ecosystems.
The approach taken is a combination of social and technical removal strategies targeting the industrial hotspots through cooling water systems (CWS), harbours, lagoons, shores and the shallow sea water. The technical approach comprises of comparing the existing removal approaches (tendering), with multiple developing technologies at varying testing sites in Europe and in the Caribbean for the removal of nano/micro/macro-plastics. The approach entails a comprehensive monitoring system to gather data at frequencies of every 6 month for 2 years. This is done to understand the effectiveness of the new technologies and current clean-up approaches both in terms of cutting down plastic presence in the environment and its effects on the marine and local ecosystem. The technical approach will be a blueprint in establishing a coherent and synchronized system of cleaning, that is scalable and replicable.
The social strategy comprises of an incentive-based initiative that relies on a remote application. The focus is to get the local population involved by incentivising plastic pick-up in return for monetary gain or other rewards. With the plastic gathered at the demo sites, it is to be treated for reusability by investigating different recycling approaches. This would allow to close the loop and achieve circularity. The approaches include a.o. replacement of fossil fuels for a Steel Mill, where its produced syngas is sent to a chemical plant as raw material to produce chemicals.
The added value of the approach is the inter-connectedness of the processes in acquiring plastic waste and creating circularity in the value chain. The complementary consortium of 17 partners from 10 different countries, including 2 research organizations, 2 Government, 4 Industry End Users, 2 NGO, 7 SME of which 4 technology providers and 3 service providers.

Call for proposal

H2020-FNR-2020

See other projects for this call

Sub call

H2020-FNR-2020-1

Coordinator

SINTEF AS
Net EU contribution
€ 1 240 666,00
Address
STRINDVEGEN 4
7034 Trondheim
Norway

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Region
Norge Trøndelag Trøndelag
Activity type
Research Organisations
Links
Total cost
€ 1 315 041,25

Participants (23)