The fourth edition of the SusPlast Assembly was held in the Assembly Hall of the Margaritas Salas Biological Research Center of the CSIC (CIB-CSIC) in Madrid. In this edition, most of the platform groups met in person and some online to show their scientific advances this year related to PTI.
During the two days of this meeting, the groups explained the progress of their lines of research in the 4 thematic areas of the platform: biotechnological approaches, chemical approaches, health and environment, and regulation and certification.
(Ana Castro, Vice President of Knowledge Transfer of the CSIC during the inauguration)
The inauguration of the Annual Assembly was carried out by Ana Castro, Vice President of Knowledge Transfer of the CSIC, who highlighted the importance of PTIs and other CSIC initiatives such as HUB Converge, which promote public-private collaboration and promote innovation. The director of the CIB, Pilar Sánchez Testillano, was also present at the inauguration and welcomed all the participants, congratulating all the groups for their work in the PTI. Subsequently, the SusPlast coordination and management team intervened.
Firstly, Auxiliadora Prieto, coordinator of the platform, highlighted that the PTI currently has more than 400 researchers, and has managed to reinforce the image of the CSIC as a scientific-technical platform to manage plastic pollution and move towards a focused future. to the circular economy. He also highlighted the recent installation of 4 pilot plants thanks to the support of the Recovery and Resilience Fund of the European Union, which will allow responding to projects in collaboration with the industry.
(Auxiliadora Prieto, coordinator of the SusPlast platform)
For his part, Oliver Drzyzga, platform manager, encouraged partners to participate in European Union calls for projects.
(Oliver Drzyzga, SusPlast+ platform manager)
Finally, Juan Rodríguez, deputy coordinator of Susplast+, highlighted the CSIC initiative “Science for Public Policies”, in which they have prepared a collection of reports to contribute to the definition of public policies based on scientific evidence. Within this collection, Susplast developed “Combating Plastic Pollution”, in which the initiatives that are already being carried out from the platform were defined. Rodríguez also reported that the platform has recently been involved in MITECO consultancies related to the UN resolution to combat plastic pollution, and has collaborated with other PTIs such as EsCiencia and Fab3D.
(Juan Rodríguez, deputy coordinator of Susplast+ during his speech)
Subsequently, the presentations of the 4 pilot plants took place, where those responsible for the different plants installed at the CIB-CSIC, IATA-CSIC AND ICTP-CSIC reported on the equipment and services currently available in them.
The afternoon session of the first day of the Assembly was inaugurated by Elena Cartea, Deputy Vice President of Scientific-Technical Areas of the CSIC, who reported that the CSIC will support the platform and the pilot plants next year.
Next, the presentations of the 5 new groups of the platform took place as well as the presentations of the groups involved in the lines of “Environmental impact and toxicity of plastics in natural environments”, “Recyclable bioplastics from natural polymers” and “ Development and certification of packaging materials with lower environmental impact”, which closed the first day of the Assembly.
November 22 was dedicated to the presentations of the platform partners whose lines of research are dedicated to “Impact of plastics on human health”, “Application of biocatalysts for eco-design of sustainable plastics”, “Revaluation of waste through microbial bioprocesses” and “Design of sustainable plastics through chemical approaches”.
In short, the assembly was a resounding success and an excellent opportunity to create synergies between the groups on the platform. The coordinators closed the assembly showing gratitude for the milestones achieved and optimistic about facing another year of work focused on Sustainable Plastics for a Circular Economy.
(Family photo taken at the assembly with all the SusPlast groups)
IATA Packaging Group explaining its services and advances in the MATBIO and MATPRO units