The four countries in the Interreg 2 Seas region (England, France, Belgium and The Netherlands) are major producers of plastic waste in the EU. Despite previous efforts, overall recycling rates are limited to around 20% - 30%. One of the main causes is the lack of collaboration and management between different actors (industry, public, private) to come to an optimized plastic waste management scheme. This results in suboptimal logistics, economic costs, but also in environmental impact, such as plastic debris ending up in water bodies.

Furthermore, cities in this region are also huge exporters of plastic waste. By doing so, they do not only displace the problem, but they are also missing economic opportunities. Countries like China have recently closed their borders to European export of plastic waste. As a result, waste management companies are urgently searching for solutions.

The region needs a change in waste management practices and an improved attitude towards plastic in the circular economy.

“There's a great future in plastics” by ~jar{} / CC BY 2.0

PlastiCity will develop, demonstrate and implement practical new strategies and solutions to increase plastic waste recycling rates within the region.

By unlocking the use of ‘lost plastics’ as secondary resources PlastiCity will increase plastic recycling rates in urban environments and stimulate job creation in the circular economy. Additionally, PlastiCity will:

• Develop technical strategies for (reverse) logistics and reprocessing
• Induce behavioral change and enhance the capacity of stakeholders  through urban platforms
• Demonstrate is strategies and solutions in 4 case study cities (Ghent, The Hague, Southend-on-Sea and Douai)
• Create new value chains and desig new products, by unlocking the full potential of ‘medium’ sized actors (SME’s, offices, retail, schools, etc.)
• Deploy a mobile unit for testing, demonstration and sensitisation

PlastiCity focuses on finding new combinations of technical options and urban collaboration models. The project includes the development and demonstration of innovative sustainable logistics, linked to local lumping solutions at plastic reuse and refinery hubs. We bring data and stakeholders together on Urban Platforms in a systematic way. PlastiCity is the first project in the 2Seas area that is designed specifically to support the implementation of the EU Plastics strategy in the Circular Economy.