PlastiCity handbook with guidelines for local governments
We’ve developed a PlastiCity handbook to provide local or regional governmental organisations recommendations on how to establish a community of stakeholders for building new value chains and business cases for post-consumer non household plastic waste - the so called ‘lost plastics’ - in urban environments. Urban environments are major players in the transition toward the circular economy. Currently, about 85% of global Gross Domestic Product is generated through cities. Plastics are one of the most used products in our society with a high impact on our environment, such as on the climate and on the natural environment (ocean soup and microplastics). In plastic recycling there is not enough focus on post-consumer non-household (PC NH) plastic waste (from businesses). Because the composition of these plastics is well known and contaminations are nearly non-existent, recycling should be easy. The PlastiCity project aimed to increase the recycling rates of PC NH plastic waste in four urbanised pilot areas by establishing an urban platform and working together on innovative logistical solutions for the collection, determining the flows and the qualities with a mobile unit. By developing the business case of recylced plastic products, new (local) value chainse could be established. A local authority can play different roles to contribute to this challenging goal.

First step Gain insight into the (local) plastic supply chain.

Second step Determine spatial distribution of actors.

Third step
Select and arrange actors that are or want to be engaged and become stakeholders that commit to the goals.

Fourth step Select and arrange actors that are or want to be engaged and become stakeholders that commit to the goals.

Fifth step Creating an overview of the logistical alternatives.

Sixth step Four variations of a plastic hub which can also be realised successively as a growth model. This makes it possible to gradually develop the local chain and realise business opportunities with recycled plastics.

Or scroll through the handbook overview presented on the PlastiCity closing event in Ghent on 8 December 2022, to explore the content of the PlastiCity handbook.