The world production of plastics is about 350 million tons per year. The sectors that consume the most are agriculture and the food industry. It is estimated that the packaging sector consumes 40% and agricultural applications, 3.5%. Once used, plastic waste accumulates in natural environments due to its limited recovery and resistance to degradation. In fact, currently only 31% of plastics entering waste management systems are recycled, while the rest is incinerated or landfilled.

Furthermore, the microplastics derived from the decomposition of these wastes pose an additional environmental problem. Only in the agricultural sector, plastic mulch is suspected to be one of the main sources of accumulation of microplastics in terrestrial environments.

The overall objective of the Recover project is to demonstrate and expand new biological approaches to address the problem of agro-food plastic waste and help solve the problems of contamination of agricultural fields with non-biodegradable agroplastics, as well as provide sustainable management pathways for the fraction of non-recyclable packaging from municipal waste management systems. To achieve these goals, it is proposed to use innovative biotechnological solutions by combining microorganisms, new microbial enzymes, worms and insects to biotransform waste streams from non-recyclable plastic packaging and agricultural films. In addition, new raw materials will be produced for the biofertilizers of the primary sector and the bio-based industry (chitin and chitosan). The project paves the way for future exploitation and supports the EU’s efforts to switch to circular models and tackle plastic pollution.

Biotech tools

The Recover project revolves around a new concept in which multiple species collaborate in an integrated and complementary way to biotransform complex mixtures of plastic into products or to biodegrade and eliminate them completely:

• Enzymes, developed using a synthetic biology approach.
• Microbial consortia that attack mixed plastic waste in different environmental conditions.
• Insects and earthworms whose natural ability to ingest and digest plastics will be enhanced by reinforcing their natural microbiome with probiotics.

Treatment scenarios

These biotechnological processes will be developed in two scenarios: ex situ treatment in insect rearing chambers or composting reactors for non-recyclable plastics from urban solid waste or agricultural plastic waste; and in situ treatment directly on soils contaminated with plastics, such as mulch films.

Within the framework of the project, an appropriate waste collection and delivery strategy will be proposed to the biorecycling plant with the help of decision support systems, plastics monitoring tools, equipment and logistics studies. Likewise, simple and reproducible conditions will be established that can be replicated in farms or municipalities.

The Recover project is an innovative research and action that began on June 1, 2020 and will last four years. It brings together 17 multidisciplinary partners to develop a set of biotechnology-based processes that involve the combined action of new enzymes, microbial communities, insects and earthworms for the sustainable recycling of food packaging flows and agricultural plastic waste, that is, agro-food plastic waste, food packaging and plastic waste (AWP) and the cleaning of environments contaminated by them.

In the first 12 months, the most widespread plastic polymers in agri-food plastic waste have been mapped and characterized. The logistics chain for its collection and current handling practices have been analyzed and reviewed.

A set of target insects, worms, microbial consortia, and enzyme families have also been selected; and their ability to feed or hydrolyze the target polymers is being tested. In the coming months, the production of suitable biotech solutions will be scaled up and tested under full-scale conditions.

On June 17 we celebrated our 12M General Assembly.

In addition, Recover has joined forces with two other BBIJU H2020 sister projects, Enzycle and Bizente to collaborate on a technical and dissemination level; shares synergies with Biorefine Cluster Europe, a consolidated network that interconnects projects and people in the field of recovery of resources of biological origin.