STOPP aims to STOP the ways that lead to environmental pollution, use of unsustainable virgin fossils, excess use of resources, high levels of generated plastic waste, incineration and landfilling, and climate change. We aim to do this by producing strategies for circular food plastic packaging with Refuse, Reduce, Redesign, Reuse and Recycle approaches. Our goal is to enhance sustainable and circular use of plastic food packaging and decrease the amount of generated waste while reducing the environmental impact. This is achieved via development and implementation of circular strategies together with an extensive network of plastics packaging value chain stakeholders, and citizens and consumers. Increased knowledge on the environmental and climate impacts of food packaging systems is a key driver in changing perception of reuse and recycling. We will quantify the effect of littered plastic food packaging on the environment with analysis of different ecosystems, biological organizational levels and key sentinel organisms. This deeper understanding is an important part together with different state-of-the-art and comprehensive enablers and barriers analysis for the technological developments, business strategies and consumer studies done in the project. Our technological approaches for reuse focus on safe and high-performance material development, improving return logistics, and developing consumer-centric communication strategies. For recycling, we will optimize collection systems, create safe food contact polyolefin recyclates, recycle bio-based and smart food packaging, and expand Plastics Recyclers Europe’ RecyClass certification scheme for recyclability. STOPP has a key role in supporting the Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation implementation in its early stages via the developed novel solutions, providing new open access knowledge and hands-on tools for the value chain actors to start-up their sustainable circular food packaging journey as early adaptors.

Europe´s ambitious sustainability and climate goals are heavily relying on the transition from fossil-based to bio-based chemical building blocks. Lignin as abundant natural resource has substantial potential to serve as starting material for the production of functionalized aromatic compounds. Only 1-2% of the lignin annual production is used in chemical conversion. Critical challenge to overcome is the heterogeneous and complex nature hampering the full exploitation of isolated lignins. To address this challenge, COUNTLESS will demonstrate the first catalytic hydrogenolysis process operated in continuous mode at industrially relevant scale for the cost-effective and sustainable production of lignin-based platform chemicals. COUNTLESS will demonstrate the applicability and cost-effectiveness of lignin-based platform chemicals in a variety of end-use cases from bulk to specialty applications. This project is formed by key partners covering the whole value chain including feedstock suppliers, technology development experts, well-recognized industry players in the respective application fields, experts in dissemination, communication and exploitation, and experts in integrated sustainability, environmental, and techno-economic assessments. Revenue streams will result from licensing agreements and an increase in turnover and margin for COUNTLESS suppliers and application partners. We anticipate a positive NPV and IRR in 15 years of operation. COUNTLESS contributes directly to the CBE-JU SIRA and KPIs through the increased use of sustainably sourced biomass, reduction of GHG emissions through improvements in the pilot infrastructure (>50% reduction in GHG emissions and 85% using fully renewable supply) and the development of bio-based high-value products substituting current fossil-based compounds.