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H2020Individual fellowship2019–2022

SOLFORPLAS · A solution for plastic waste pollution

Horizon 2020 — Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions

Duration
2019-09-02 → 2022-06-01
EU contribution
€184,708
Participants
1
Scheme
MSCA-IF-EF-ST

Lines connect the coordinator with its partners.

Results in brief

A solution for plastic waste pollution

Since the 1970s, the mismanagement of plastic waste has been increasingly threatening our health and environment. What was considered a mere aesthetic problem only a few years ago is today a real global environmental problem. Today nearly everyone, everywhere, every day comes into contact with plastics – especially plastic packaging. While delivering many benefits, the current plastics economy has drawbacks that are becoming more apparent by the day. Rather than been reduced, plastic production is growing exponentially. By 2050, the estimation of plastic waste in landfills or in the natural environment verges on 12 billion metric tons, if current production and waste management trends continue. Societies are raising awareness about this concern, although our dependency makes nearly impossible to imagine a world without plastics. This urges for a solution making plastic production and degradation sustainable. To date, important efforts have been made to isolate and identify unique microorganisms capable of utilizing plastics as a carbon source. Although there is empirical evidence of it, the rates of biodegradation are still very low. In the SOLFORPLAS project, we applied cutting-edge biology tools, including fermentation and analytical processes, together with state-of-the-art methods in industrial microbiology research, to investigate plastic biodegradation using a highly optimized strategy that combines an extruder and a bioreactor. The innovative combined strategy integrates physical, chemical and biological treatments, which mimic the whole biodegradation process taking place in worms, as a solution for plastic pollution.

Data: CORDIS, © European Union

Project objective

Since the 1970s, the mismanagement of plastic waste has been increasingly threatening our health and environment. Rather than been reduced, plastic production is growing exponentially. By 2050, the estimation of plastic waste in landfills or in the natural environment verges on 12 billion metric tons, if current production and waste management trends continue. Societies are raising awareness about this concern, although our dependency makes nearly impossible to imagine a world without plastics. This urges for a solution making plastic production and degradation sustainable. To date, important efforts have been made to isolate and identify unique microorganisms capable of utilizing plastics as a carbon source. Although there is empirical evidence of it, the rates of biodegradation are still very low. In SOLFORPLAS project, we will apply cutting-edge biology tools, including fermentation and analytical processes, together with state-of-the-art methods in industrial microbiology research, to investigate plastic biodegradation using a highly-optimized strategy that combines an extruder and a bioreactor. The innovative combined strategy will integrate physical, chemical and biological treatment, which will mimic the whole biodegradation process taking place in worms. Multiple polymer characteristics will be monitored to determine/quantify its biodegradation. Overall, SOLFORPLAS project aim at stablishing a combined strategy to carry out plastic biodegradation as a solution for plastic pollution, one of the biggest environmental that humans are facing in this century.

Original text from CORDIS.

Participants

  • INSTITUT NATIONAL DES SCIENCES APPLIQUEES DE TOULOUSE · ToulouseCoordinatorFrance

Links

Data: CORDIS, © European Union