The project aims to create a market for recycling of plastic waste from households and similar types of industrial plastic waste from commercial enterprises and builds on the recommendations of the Innovation Platform for Plastics, which CLEAN conducted in 2013 with participation from more than 100 Danish plastics companies and experts in the field.
The procurement aims to develop an innovative plastic sorting and reprocessing solution. Important requirements for this solution is that it should improve on the current solutions so that plastic waste can be reused and recycled at a price, quality and in a quantity that is actually attractive to companies that use reprocessed plastic in their production. The services are expected to include sorting, separation, reuse and recycling of plastic waste and sale of the end products resulting from the process. The services are also expected to include sorting and separation of the mixed plastic and metal waste.
According to the latest national waste statistics (2014), about 84 000 tonnes of plastic waste are collected from Danish households and commercial enterprises each year. Hereof, about 32 000 tonnes are municipal waste, of which 50 % come from recycling stations and 50 % come from household collection schemes, and 52 000 tonnes are industrial waste. In addition, there is a large quantity of plastic waste which is not yet separated at source. Hence, it is estimated that there potentially is an additional 150 000 tonnes to 200 000 tonnes of plastic waste from Danish households each year.
The project aims to create a market for recycling of plastic waste from households and similar types of industrial plastic waste from commercial enterprises. The waste stream from these sources will include plastic packaging, large plastic products from bulky household waste (from recycling stations) as well as other types of plastic waste from commercial activities (e.g. from recycling stations, small enterprises participating in the municipal collection schemes and facilities for preliminary sorting). In addition, the waste stream will also include a mixed plastic and metal fraction from households.
The procurement builds on the recommendations of the Innovation Platform for Plastics, which CLEAN conducted in 2013 with participation from more than 100 Danish plastics companies and experts in the field. The platform concluded that a procurement should be prepared for separation of household plastic waste and similar plastic waste from enterprises. The challenges include: a lack of an overall supply of plastic waste from households and companies, but also uncertainty concerning the resale of the reprocessed plastic.
In 2013, the Danish government published a strategy for better use of resources, ‘Denmark without waste’, based on similar policy paper from the EU. This strategy focuses on the quality of recycling. The tender is also conducted in the light of the European Commission's Circular Economy Package and the revision of the EU Directive on Waste, and the EU Directive on Packaging and Packaging Waste. Here, the European Commission has proposed significantly higher targets for reuse and recycling and new rules on the calculation of the attainment of the targets.
The procedure aims to develop an innovative plastic sorting and reprocessing solution for household plastic waste and similar types of industrial plastic waste from commercial enterprises. The main purpose of the procurement procedure is to identify an innovative solution to the use of resources from plastic waste in a circular economy perspective. Important requirements for this solution is that it should improve on the current solutions so that plastic waste can be reused and recycled at a price, quality and in a quantity that is actually attractive to companies that use reprocessed plastic in their production. Since the waste stream also includes a mixed plastic and metal fraction from household, the solution must be able to separate the plastic and metal fractions. It is also a requirement that the solution is attractive to the Contracting Authorities and waste management companies that supply plastic waste, in terms of price and quality.
The Contracting Authorities' responsibilities regarding delivery of plastic waste and mixed plastic and metal waste, the duration of the contract etc. will be discussed during the dialogue and specified in the procurement documents before the submission of final tenders.
The contract does not necessarily require the establishment of a new plastic sorting and reprocessing facility. However, CLEAN and the Contracting Authorities have no knowledge of an existing facility that can reuse and recycle plastic at a price, quality and in a quantity that is actually attractive to companies that use reprocessed plastic in their production.
Contracts in relation to the procedure will be concluded separately with each of the Contracting Authorities.