SURPASS

The SURPASS project aims to lead the way in the transition towards safer, sustainable and recyclable polymers, from the design phase, using Safe Sustainable By Design (SSbD) criteria.

The overall objective of the SURPASS project is to develop a Digital Guidance Tool for European SMEs that will provide them with knowledge of SSRbD, as well as evaluate and advise them in order to help them develop new polymers.

The tool will use the results of three case studies from strategic sectors that make up 70% of European demand for plastics, which has a significant environmental impact.

The main objectives of the project

• To optimise processing technologies that are best suited to new SSRbD systems to support ambitious recyclability objectives.
• To develop an evaluation based on scores that will guide materials designers, formulators and recycling companies to design SSRbD polymers along the entire plastic life-cycle, taking into account the risk to health, the environment and the economy.
• To merge all the relevant data and methodologies in a digital infrastructure that provides a user-friendly interface that is open-access for innovators.

 Challenges

1. A digital infrastructure that includes criteria, measurements, and multilevel approaches, rating strategies, customised decision-aid tools, and references to relevant policies, regulations and standards.
2. A strategy for the polymer community to evaluate the safety, sustainability and recyclability of plastics including the evaluation of performances, hazards (including that of endocrine disruptors), environmental impact and economic viability.
3. The relevant guidance to help users find the right balance between high-performance recyclable polymers and safe plastics that are less dependent on potentially harmful additives, with a lower environmental footprint and at an acceptable cost.
4. Highly innovative polymers that are recyclable by design and intended to replace nonrecyclable materials that are currently used (or to prevent the appearance of nonrecyclable solutions) and related design strategies.
5. A suitable decontamination process that could be extended beyond the scope of this project (to other materials, for example).

For further information: https://www.surpass-project.eu/

Projet financé par l’Union européenne : Horizon Europe 2020, convention de subvention N° 101057901

Partenaires

Waste Free Ocean Europe • Polymer Compty Europe • WIPAK • ICT Fraunhofer • Association Española de Normalizacion • RIVM • BASF • Geonardo Environmental Technologies • Université de Grenoble • Indresmat SL • Fondation Cidetec • LEITAT • CEA