Under the Circular Plastics NL initiative, the Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO) has awarded over €18 million to Utrecht University, Morssinkhof Plastics, Van Dijk Containers, and other project leaders seeking to improve plastics recycling processes and achieve circularity.
Circular Plastics NL is part of the Dutch National Growth Fund, with the RVO acting on behalf of the Netherlands’ Ministry of Climate and Green Growth. The national innovation programme was launched in 2023 and provides targeted subsidies to address bottlenecks across plastics value chains, all in pursuit of a closed-loop economy.
Among this year’s winning projects isRePliCa, a process developed to achieve safe, food-grade recycling for HDPE milk bottles and cans. Project partners Morssinkhof Plastics, Mors-Invest, SABIC, Farm Dairy, Wageningen University and Research, Kunststoffen Sorteer Installatie, and Verpact plan to build a new demo plant in Heerenveen, where they will test sorting techniques and decontamination processes in pursuit of the Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation’s 2030 targets.
Another is MiPlaR, which aims to measure, reduce, and recover the microplastics generated when recycling plastic packaging. Developed by the NTCP, TNO, Verpact, Van Dam Machine, ISPT, HTP, Wetsus, Malvern Panalytical, Sun Chemical, the Province of Friesland, and Rijkswaterstaat, it seeks to create unlock filtration and process modifications that prevent emissions.
Fellow winner CLEAN, or Catalytic Low-Temp Efficiency for Advanced Decontamination, is run by Utrecht University, Renewi, BlueAlp, and Shell. It intends to create new, energy-efficient catalysts for recycling plastic waste, particularly polyolefin films, into high-value raw materials; the partners aspire to reduce chemical recycling’s carbon footprint and set up a chain from waste collection to chemical reuse.
Other initiatives include AI-driven technologies for household waste sorting and separating plastics in-line; an optical measurement system to sort plastics on recycling lines; and new approaches to pre-treating and processing mixed plastic waste for chemical recycling.
Over €18 million will be distributed among the nine projects, which is said to double the number of projects awarded last year. However, CPNL’s €42 million budget was not fully allocated this year, with several applications failing to meet the full evaluation criteria.
Entrepreneurs from CPNL projects will attend the Transition to Circularity event for green chemistry, biobased polymers, and circular plastics professionals on 30th October in Eindhoven.
In other funding news, Emerald Technology Ventures has led a Series A funding round providing Xampla with $14 million in private capital; the money is set to help Xampla rempalce single-use plastics with alternatives made from regenerative plant proteins.
Yangi has also secured €10 million in an oversubscribed Series A funding round led by Industrifonden. This will reportedly be used to industrialize its dry forming technology for fibre packaging at scale.
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