Author: Daniele Turati
Novamont is an Italian industrial company, leader in the bioplastics sector and in the development of biochemicals and bioproducts from renewable origins through the integration of chemistry and agriculture. This is done by starting up biorefineries integrated into the local area and providing application solutions that ensure the efficient use of resources throughout their entire life cycle, with advantages for social, economic and environmental systems.
Within Frontsh1p project, which involves 34 partners including universities, research centres, industries, municipalities, etc., Novamont is the leader of the second Circular Systemic Solution, which targets the Food and Feed sector, aimed at demonstrating the valorisation of agricultural, feedstock, food industry waste and urban biowaste into a variety of eco-designed products in a circular bioeconomy approach.
On the one hand, Novamont will contribute to the implementation in the Polish region of Łódzkie of innovative agro-industrial value chains that respect local areas. In particular, the company, in collaboration with local farmers, will promote the establishment of oil crops with low environmental impact and reduced water consumption in marginal lands (such as rapeseed and milk thistle). Scraps deriving from these crops will be used to obtain biodegradable biolubricants, bio-oils for insulation materials and animal feed.
This is expected to have a strong effect on the diffusion of a new paradigm of territorial circular economy in the region involved.
For instance, the introduction of oleaginous crops will help restore carbon in soil and create additional production and income opportunities for the stakeholders of the area. Furthermore, promoting best practices in agriculture, such as the use of biodegradable applications like biolubricants, will help reduce the environmental impact on soil, water and air.
On the other hand, Novamont, who has also a long experience in cooperating with local authorities, multi-utilities and waste processing sector in general, will collaborate with municipalities to valorise food industry waste and urban waste into building blocks suitable to be used for the realization of compostable bags. These will be essential to promote good practices for the management of the organic fraction of municipal solid waste (OFMSW) in the region and thus trigger virtuous processes of circular economy.
The use of biodegradable and compostable bags can in fact help remove organic waste from landfills, allowing it to be transformed into a valuable resource such as compost, a soil improver and a precious tool for tackling soil degradation.
