On that occasion, PA8 coordinators Carmen Hawkins, Nirvana Kapitan Butković, the State Secretary Andreja Metelko-Zgombić, State Secretary Dr. Patrick Rapp, Cristina Cuc awarded Eva Breuer with a certificate of the flagship project for 2024.

 

The Plan-C project boosts the transformation of the plastics value chain in the Danube countries towards circularity through the transnational cooperation of plastics processors/producers and the machine industry.

Plastics are a versatile material omnipresent in modern life, but by far not sufficiently recirculated after first use. The goal of the EU Circular Economy Action Plan, i.e. a recycling quote of plastics packaging of 50% until 2025, remains challenging, especially for the South/Eastern Danube region that shows severe deficits in waste management systems and a lack of industrial processing knowledge for the recirculation of secondary plastics materials. That is why we need innovative ideas for the circular economy and, above all, transnational cooperation to tackle shared problems together.

 

 

The Plan-C project consortium of 14 partners from 9 countries (DE, AT, CZ, SK, HU, RS, BiH, RO, and MD) aims to boost the transformation of the plastics value chain in the Danube Region towards circularity through the transnational cooperation of plastics processors/producers and the machine industry. Close cooperation among partners across the Danube Region countries is required to introduce a fundamental change in this complex plastics value chain, implying a radical shift of mindsets, behaviour, and business paradigms.

 

 

Project Partners:
• Business Upper Austria – AT
• Austria Business Service – AT
• Technology Center Horb – DE
• Czech Plastics Cluster – CZ
• Tomas Bata University in Zlín – CZ
• Slovak Plastic Cluster – SK
• Technical University of Košice, Faculty of Manufacturing Technologies, Prešov – SK
• Omnipack First Hungarian Packaging Technology Cluster – HU
• Innovation Center of the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, University Belgrade – RS
• Romanian Cluster Association – RO
• „Petru Poni” Institute of Macromolecular Chemistry – RO
• Innoskart Business Development – HU
• Foundation for Innovation, Technology and Knowledge Transfer – BA
• Sorintex – Association of Light Industry Enterprises – MD

 

The goal is to enhance the competitiveness of key actors, contributing to the EU Strategy for the Danube Region (EUSDR) Priority Area 8 objectives.

 

Using technology transfer and a design thinking process, the partners will co-create and demonstrate circular plastic prototypes, resulting in a Circular Plastics Guideline to build regional knowledge and capacities. Strategic partners and policy stakeholders will help integrate this strategy into regional innovation strategies (RIS3).

 

Similarly, project partners and machine firms will develop circular solutions for each phase of the machine lifecycle, and create digital business models summarized in a Guideline for Circularity in the Machine Industry.

 

Overall, at least 140 enterprises from the plastics and machine industries in the Danube region are collaborating to create a vision for a transformed plastics value chain focused on circularity. The final Transnational Action Plan to embed circular economy principles in the holistic plastics value chain targets SMEs, large enterprises, business support organizations, sectoral agencies, and public authorities, aiming to increase the capacity of at least 70 organizations to implement circular concepts along the plastics value chain.