PROJECT DESCRIPTION
BACKGROUND
The global production of virgin plastics has increased 20-fold since the 1960s. Despite the many benefits of plastics, they cause major environmental and health problems. There is an urgent need for a global transition into a safe and sustainable circular economy of plastics. One of the key objectives of the EU Plastics Strategy is to ensure that all plastic packages that enter the EU market are reusable or easily recyclable by 2030. In December 2020, the European Plastics Pact was further complemented with a roadmap (European Plastics Pact 2020). In Finland, the National Waste Plan 2030 sets generic targets for managing plastic waste. The Plastics Roadmap for Finland (later PRfF) was prepared in 2018 by a broad-based working group appointed by the MoE and supported by a secretariat composed of experts. Citizens were involved in the preparation via a web survey. The PRfF was adopted in December 2019. The PRfF is the first proposal in Finland aimed at finding diverse solutions to the plastics challenge. The aim of the PRfF is to gather the most significant and promising actions for sustainable use of plastics and for avoiding the negative impacts of plastics. Need for new measures was recognised soon after the preparation of the PRfF; these were deemed to be designed when knowledge on the plastics challenge has grown. The PRfF is closely connected to the EU and national legislation in force and to come, also emphasising the need for defining new measures.
OBJECTIVES
The overall aim of the PlastLIFE SIP project, in line with the PRfF, is the generation of a safe and sustainable circular economy for plastics in Finland, together with complementary measures. This will require substantial changes in society. The project will implement the four main objectives of the PRfP:
- Reduce - Reduce littering and other negative impacts caused by plastics;
- Refuse – Reduce refuse from unnecessary consumption of plastics;
- Recycle – Increase recycling of all types of plastics;
- Replace – Replace fossil plastics with bio-based materials and/or other solutions.
The project will tackle these objectives in nine work packages, and through complementary measures directly linked to the themes of the PRfF.
RESULTS
Expected results:
- Citizen awareness towards recycling of plastic increases, and the amount of plastics ending up in mixed waste decreases to 10% or less (from baseline of 17%) or to a maximum of 166 000 tonnes (compared to a baseline of 281 891 tonnes in 2020);
- More people choose durable solutions and sustainable options over single-use plastics. Awareness and acceptance of alternative materials and recycled plastics increases (at least by 30%);
- Willingness to engage in anti-littering behaviour and avoidance of unnecessary consumption increases (at least by 30% or at least 88 clean up events);
- Reduction in the demand for primary plastics by at least 20% or 520 000 tonnes;
- Transition of the plastics industry into a circular economy. Mobilising of at least 150 MEUR of financing for complementary measures;
- Better knowledge to reduce health and environmental risks and to enhance the safe circular economy for plastics;
- Amount of waste plastic generated is reduced;
- Decrease of 50%, or from 156 000 to 78 000 tons of CO2-eq.per year, in GHG emissions related to plastics waste treatment;
- Recycling rate of plastic packaging waste is increased to 55%, or the amount of non-recycled plastic packaging waste is decreased to 60 000 tonnes a year, and recycling rate of all plastic waste is doubled;
- Coastal littering decreased by 50% by the end of the project, to a maximum of 25 litter items per 100 m of coastline;
- Up-to-date and effective implementation of the PRfF, with results channelled into national policymaking and legislation;
- 200 events with at least 10 000 participants, 100 blog or news articles with 10 000 readers, and 70 reports and articles.
