Development of a tailored approach to move towards a sustainable circular economy business model in the plastic film sector: the case of Balcan

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

Balcan, a flexible packaging films and bags company based in Canada has experienced a growing number of requests about the existence of any take-back program of used flexible packaging and whether the product portfolio of the company includes packaging using recycled content. Beyond an increased customer pressure, the company also realizes that there is an opportunity in capturing the value that goes to waste in its current linear business model. But robust scientific evidence and metrics are needed to support a shift to a new circular business model and enable the tracking of progress and the ability to steer the business towards improvement. This Engage project aims to develop a scientific sound approach to assess the circularity potential at company level whilst identifying the potential risk of burden shifting and support Balcan Plastics Ltd, to develop a strategy building on robust and relevant metrics to move into a circular economy business model.Current circular economy assessment tools struggle to capture undesirable effects resulting from circular initiatives, such as a growing demand for energy in recovery and recycling processes, burden shifting from resource preservation to pollution generation and unattended rebound effects from behavioural change of consumers. Balcan is seeking for a science-based approach to design and steer the corporate strategy towards a more circular and less impacting business model and identify next relevant efforts in R&D and innovation, for instance on technologies for recycling flexible packaging, on new reverse-logistic systems, etc.The project plan includes: 1) mapping current plausible circular strategies and scenarios for selected Balcan products; 2) evaluating, along with their experts the technical-economic viability of the strategies, and, 3) evaluate the circularity and life cycle environmental profile to understand the trade-off between maximising the circularity and minimizing the life cycle impacts.