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 package includes drawing up comprehensive recycling concepts for selected underutilised plastic fractions, such as hard plastics collected at HSY’s Sortti stations and plastics from demolition works in the construction sector. The work consists of a literature review and stakeholder interviews, a more detailed study of the selected fractions’ composition, and identifying and evaluating different processing options.

Read more:

Webinar 21.5.2024: From Trash to Recycled Plastics - Future Recycling Systems(external link, opens in a new window)  (published 22.4.2024)

The package includes several practical pilots to increase knowledge of the different solution models’ feasibility.

We want to test

• the removal of microplastics from water by dissolution with biodegradable terpene created in digestion processes
• regional closed circulation with a side stream of plastic from Espoo ending up as a new product in the same environment
• plastic-eating mushrooms
• plastic workshop activities for residents to enable anyone to create objects from recycled plastic
• monitoring of the waste container filling levels with sensors installed on the lids
• ideas aimed at separate collection of plastic in the Päijät-Häme region
• new applications for deposit return scheme or reusable containers made of plastic.

Since many of the pilots include novel and innovative features, it may not be possible to implement all of them. Also, new experiments may be included.

Read more:

Sensors measure school waste volumes (published 11.1.2024)

Plastic workshop showcased the benefits of recycling (published 13.11.2023)

Calm your mind and add new nuances to your everyday life in the plastic workshop – there is still time to sign up! (published 31.5.2023)

Get a grip on plastic: give a useless plastic item a new lease of life by bringing it to a library collection point or participating in a plastic workshop (published 17.3.2023)

The package examines the plastics produced in the other work packages. A comprehensive material database drafted based on the results will provide product manufacturers with information about the properties, suitability and strengths of various recycled plastics.

The package will provide an overview of the current overall situation of plastic circularity in the Helsinki Metropolitan Area and Lahti and a roadmap for plastic circularity up to the year 2050. The idea is to form an understanding of the current bottlenecks in plastic circularity, what the operating environment will be like in the upcoming decades, and what should be the next steps to develop plastic circularity. The situational picture is created in close cooperation with actors in the plastics sector.

Read more:

Visions of better life at the heart of Plastics Future Day (published 14.3.2024)

Packaging plastic circulates relatively well in the Helsinki Metropolitan Area and Lahti – hard plastic and construction plastic not so much (published 18.1.2024)

Tell us about information needed for improving the circulation of plastic (published 31.3.2023)

The city influences the regional market situation through public procurement terms. As a city committed to the circular economy, we must also consider the circulation of materials in procurement. That said, what does that mean in practice? We will start by identifying which city procurements can best influence plastic circularity and how it should be done. Finally, we will draw up procurement criteria supporting plastic circularity and provide training to other city procurers.

Read more:

Survey: Municipalities’ attitude towards construction plastics

 procurement (published 21.2024)

How can public procurements support circulation of plastics? (published 13.9.2023)

A report produced by the City of Espoo examined how the recycling rate of plastics in the Helsinki Metropolitan Area and Lahti has developed and looked for ways to increase the recycling rate of plastics. The report shows that the recycling rate of plastic packaging has increased, while there are still significant shortcomings in the cycle of hard plastic and construction plastic.

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, opens in a new window).

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.