Compostable bioplastics: “Local Communication 2024” call for tenders published

15 January 2024 – €200,000 for training projects and communications campaigns targeting the general public, students and economic stakeholders. Objective: increase people’s ability to recognise compostable bioplastic packaging and encourage its organic recycling together with food waste. This is the funding provided through the “Local Communication 2024” call for proposals, organised by the Biorepack Consortium in accordance with Article 14 of the Technical Annex signed with ANCI, the National Association of Italian Municipalities.

The initiative is for local authorities (individual or in association) or the operators that they have delegated and which are in partnership with Biorepack on the date the project is presented.

“From the outset, in our consortium we immediately realised how important it was to help citizens correctly separate their organic and compostable waste,” emphasised Marco Versari, president of BIOREPACK. “Having well-informed citizens will increase the quality and quantity of the OFMSW collected and sent to treatment plants. It will also help ensure that these plants are not ‘contaminated’ with non-compostable materials such as traditional plastics, glass and metal. In this way, food waste will be transformed into compost and contribute to restoring organic matter to agricultural soils, essential for ensuring fertility and agricultural yields and for combating soil degradation.”

As in the 2023 edition, this year’s best entries will be chosen by a judging committee, comprising two representatives from the Biorepack consortium and one from ANCI. Awarding prizes to the most innovative and effective projects should also encourage other entities to join in the financing. The projects must include a detailed description of the activities involved, the operating timeline (to be implemented between 15 March and 30 November 2024), a prior assessment of the projects and the expected results in terms of improving waste collection quality.

The €200,000 set aside by Biorepack will be shared between four regions (North West, North East, Centre, South and Islands) and two catchment areas (greater than or less than 100,000 inhabitants). Details of the distribution are shown in the table that follows:

“Data shows that when it comes to separate collection of food waste and compostable bioplastics there are still significant differences between the various areas of Italy. It is precisely to help close this collection gap that we have dedicated more funding to the southern regions. The benefits of closing the gap will be seen for the system right across the country,” highlighted Versari.

The call for proposals and the forms to be completed are available on this site. The submission deadline is 9 February 2024 while the list of winners will be published on the same website by 1 March 2024.

Finally, in order to illustrate the key points of the call for proposals and answer questions from interested parties, Biorepack and ANCI will hold a webinar at 10 am on 16 January 2024. To attend the webinar, click on this link.