The EU-funded BioSupPack project has transformed brewery waste into high-performance bioplastics, offering sustainable packaging solutions and enabling compliance with the EU Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR).
The BioSupPack project, funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 programme, has successfully demonstrated innovative ways to convert brewery waste into sustainable bioplastics for packaging. Over five years, the consortium of 18 industry-leading partners, coordinated by AIMPLAS, has developed key technologies to produce polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA and PHB)—bioplastics that offer eco-friendly alternatives to fossil-based materials.
The project has validated six major innovations at a demonstrative scale, addressing critical challenges such as material performance, recycling efficiency, and industry compliance with the EU Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR). Using cutting-edge recycling methods, including enzymatic recycling, BioSupPack has shown how a circular economy can be achieved in packaging.
Transforming waste into high-value packaging materials
The consortium scaled up biorefinery processes to produce biobased materials suitable for rigid packaging across food and non-food applications. Packaging prototypes developed during the project are close to matching the performance of their fossil-based counterparts.
“BioSupPack has demonstrated that we can create a true circular economy by turning brewery waste into valuable packaging materials and by recycling the packaging waste through innovative recycling technologies,” said Rosa González Leyba, project coordinator from AIMPLAS.
The results of this €7.6 million project are now available for industry adoption, offering sustainable solutions to biopolymer producers, biorefineries, packaging manufacturers, and brands across the food, cosmetics, and consumer goods sectors.