Closed Plastic Circle – from Pilots into Practice

The Smart & Clean Foundation promoted systemic changes towards a more sustainable future. The foundation’s Closed Plastic Circle project set out to raise the plastic recycling rate in the Helsinki region and the City of Lahti from the initial six per cent to 60–70%. Besides Espoo, the participants included the City of Helsinki, HSY Helsinki Region Environmental Services Authority, VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland Ltd, Fortum, Lassila & Tikanoja, and Siemens.

The measures targeted all stages of the plastic life cycle. Under the foundation’s auspices, the project implemented sorting system pilots, increased the collection of plastic waste fractions and developed new processing processes. Numerous studies were commissioned on, for example, the possibilities for construction plastic recycling, ecological packaging and the prospects of plastic recycling.

The City of Espoo took over the coordination responsibility for the Closed Plastic Circle project after the foundation ceased operation as planned in 2021. The role of the coordinator is to ensure the continuity of the activities, strengthen cooperation and encourage new partners to join the project. A white paper drawn up before the coordinator change identified the following topics as the three main themes for the coming years: recycling of rigid plastics, re-sorting, and more sustainable public procurements.

The computational model developed by VTT for the Smart & Clean Foundation enables the demolition operator to make a preliminary assessment of different cost and emission structures depending on the recycling rate of plastics collected from a demolition site. Thus, the model allows a preliminary assessment of the cost-effectiveness of collecting demolition plastics at different sites. The demolition operator can calculate the costs and carbon dioxide emissions for different options. The model has not yet been developed into an open online tool accessible to all, but information on the methodology and examples are provided in the attached report.

The study produced by Afry for the Smart & Clean Foundation provides an overview of the possible uses and markets for recycled plastic, at a general level but especially in the construction of infrastructure. The aim was to examine the use of recycled (hard) plastic in various technical structures, such as noise barriers and outdoor furniture, and in playgrounds and sports fields.

The study showed that recycled plastic is not commonly used in the construction of infrastructure and that only a small percentage of hard plastic is collected compared to packaging plastic, even though roughly the same amount of both plastics is generated. The use of and the market for recycled plastic are limited, in particular, by the challenges related to the collection and quality of plastic and the lack of standardisation. Challenges in collection were often related to a lack of space and other logistical issues.

The purpose of the study produced by Ramboll for the Smart & Clean Foundation was to provide an accurate overview of the current state of environmental requirements and construction site practices and to identify the biggest challenges and bottlenecks of waste recycling.

According to the study, the challenges related to waste collection at construction sites include attitudes, non-commitment by management, and lack of resources and training. Concrete challenges include limited spaces, tight schedules, inadequate equipment, the fragmented structure of the sector and the use of several subcontractors. The best practices mentioned in the report include close cooperation with different operators, strengthening the commitment of management, training employees and subcontractors, preparing a waste management plan at the early stages of the project, monitoring the implementation of waste management during the construction project, responding to deficiencies, and providing adequate resources for response measures.

A study carried out by Aalto University and the Ministry of the Environment aimed at measuring and modelling the amount and quality of plastic film waste generated in the construction of apartment buildings. This study, commissioned by the Smart & Clean Foundation, was carried out as a literature review to provide a foundation for a research report to be compiled later. The literature review showed that further research is needed into the amount, origin and quality of plastic film waste generated in construction. You can read about the final results and the modelling tool created based on the findings here(external link).

Commissioned by the Smart & Clean Foundation, Afry developed a concrete chain of measures for achieving a 50% recycling rate for plastic packaging in the Helsinki and Lahti regions. The chain of measures includes the entire life cycle of plastic packaging from design to the use of recycled raw material. One finding of the study was that in addition to sorting and collecting, it is essential to promote the recyclability of plastic packaging and the development of the market for recycled plastics. It was also noted that the collection rate could be further increased by providing information and advice.

The data model for packaging plastics created by Taival Advisory can illustrate the different flows of packaging plastics, enabling us to better understand the changes that must be made to the various flows in order to achieve the desired end result. The Excel tool allows users to collect, monitor and visualise information on plastics and share it with both internal and external partners. Attached you will find the report prepared on the development work and the first demo version of the tool.