Solving the plastic challenge from several angles

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 A joint project involving 17 partners includes many approaches to sustainable circular economy for plastics. A common requirement for all these approaches is that reaching circular economy for plastics in Finland requires that our whole society must bear responsibility for plastics. Achieving this requires societal change, and the PlastLIFE project has been set up to support that change through unbiased expert information and tools for consumers, the plastics industry, recycling companies, decision makers, as well as for students and researchers to enable circular economy and prevent harm caused by plastic pollution.

The work of different organisations started in the past spring. Among other things, the project works for:

• Sensible operating models are being sought in sparsely populated areas of North Karelia to cost-effectively remove waste plastic from the wrong places, while minimising the use of natural resources.
• The City of Helsinki is upgrading the circular economy of plastics used in infrastructure construction through measures such as investigating if it is possible to find ways to avoid unnecessary use of filter fabrics in the ground. Filter fabrics are a source of microplastics emissions.
• The University of Jyväskylä is investigating degradation speed of biodegradable plastics in aquatic environment, and their ecotoxicological effects on organisms – for example on reproductivity.
• Together with an extensive group of stakeholders brought together by the Finnish Environment Institute comprising researchers, entrepreneurs, and politicians, we are creating paths for change and proposals for measures for the development of the Plastics Roadmap for Finland.
• The Keep the Archipelago Tidy organisation campaigns to prevent litter.

The nationwide seven-year project was launched at the end of last year. The project is funded by the EU LIFE-programme.

Do these topics interest you and your organisation?

“We face a huge challenge, and we need the help of all Finns to overcome it. All of us who are taking part in the project want to communicate and cooperate with the municipal and corporate networks, event organisers, organisations, and all who are interested in plastics. Feel free to contact us and join the work with PlastLIFE project”, says Helena Dahlbo, Senior Research Scientist at the Finnish Environment Institute.

We are working with these measures when searching the solutions for sustainable circular economy in plastics:

• Reducing unnecessary consumption of plastics
• Stopping littering
• Enhancing recovering and recycling of plastic waste
• Replacing fossil-based raw materials
• Managing harmful substances
• Managing construction and demolition plastics
• Managing agricultural and horticultural plastics
• Finding solutions through cooperation
• New business activities
• Boosting skills and knowledge
• Accumulating a knowledge base in plastics and their effects

Please join our cooperative effort! Learn about the PlastLIFE project and get in touch!

Contact

Senior Research Scientist Helena Dahlbo, Finnish Environment Institute, tel. +358 29 525 1095, helena.dahlbo@syke.fi

Senior Research Scientist Sari Kauppi, Finnish Environment Institute, tel. +358 295 251 268, sari.kauppi@syke.fi

Links

Project web site plastlife.fi

Plastics Roadmap for Finland (Ministry of the Environment)