Project description
Retrofitting plastic packaging machines
Plastic is an important and ubiquitous material. It is cheap, durable and has multiple functions. However, plastic products are taking their toll on the environment. For instance, the million tonnes of plastic litter that end up in the oceans every year are a cause of growing public concern. This is why preventing plastic waste is a top priority in Europe. The EU has banned certain plastics and the preference for paper-based alternatives is high. To assist in the shift to paper-based packaging, the EU-funded PAPER SOLUTIONS project will bring to the market a suite of innovative retrofit technologies that can convert plastic packaging machinery to paper packaging. Its target market is the global packaging industry. The end goal is to contribute to a cleaner environment and increase profits by promoting an eco-friendly model of business.
Objective
Alarming plastic waste growth is seriously affecting biodiversity and human health. Of 9.2B tons of plastic ever produced, 6.2B tons has never been recycled. 8M tons of plastic are dumped into the ocean yearly, creating islands of plastic waste, such as the 1.6M m2 great pacific garbage patch, 3 times the size of France. Plastic waste is killing ocean species and causing €60M in losses to the fishing industry. Thus the EU banned certain plastics, stimulating the development of bio plastics, which are not yet mature to meet the quantities needed. To compliment bio plastics, Sitma Machinery, developer of packaging solutions, has developed a suite of innovative retrofit technologies, PAPER SOLUTIONS, to convert plastic packaging machinery to paper packaging. 40% of all plastic produced are single use, such as packaging used by magazines and newspapers firms, who are our target market. Paper is sustainable and PAPER SOLUTIONS has advantages over existing paper wrapping machines; only upgrades plastic packaging machinery without replacing the whole system, compatible with our competitor’s plastic packaging machinery, produces packaging that has same strength as plastic, can package 3D items, higher throughput and process other packaging materials. Our target market is the global packaging industry which is expected to reach €54.4B at a CAGR of 6.7% from 2017 to 2023. Today, we have commercialized one retrofit for specific customer needs and the ultimate project objective is to standardize our technology to cover various market needs. Thus, in Phase 1 we will conduct a Feasibility Study to gather input main technical, commercial and financial inputs influencing the project. Our project will ensure cleaner environment, while our customers will benefit sales growth from increased loyalty of environmentally conscious consumers. It will secure €27.6M in profit, 9 jobs and a ROI of 10.6 per euro invested in 5 years for Sitma Machinery after completion.
Fields of science
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques.
Programme(s)
Funding Scheme
SME-1 - SME instrument phase 1Coordinator
41057 SPILAMBERTO
Italy
The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.