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UK Research & Innovation’s Smart Sustainable Plastic Packaging (SSPP) Challenge has launched a new £2.5m Future Plastic Packaging Solutions Round 2 competition for research and innovation projects seeking grant funding from £30,000 to £250,000.

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Interested applicants can also engage with the SSPP Challenge team at a number of in-person events this Autumn

From new recycling processes to reuse and refill solutions and novel polymers, the £60m SSPP Challenge is working to make plastic packaging fit for a sustainable future. It is the largest and most ambitious UK government investment to date in sustainable plastics research and innovation, and is focused on driving a step change in the UK’s ability to reduce, reuse and recycle plastic packaging.

This latest competition is open to applications from projects that:

• help make the plastics packaging supply chain more circular;
• deliver the objectives and/or targets of the UK Plastics Pact, creating a circular economy for plastics, keeping them in the economy and out of the natural environment; and
• embed lifecycle thinking and end-of-life in packaging design and decisions.

SSPP Challenge Director Paul Davidson said: “In building the SSPP project portfolio, we have been aiming for a balanced approach that targets some of the key barriers to increasing the reduction, reuse and recycling of plastic packaging. For this competition, we are looking for bold and ambitious innovation proposals that keep the value embedded in plastic packaging in the economy, and out of the natural environment.”

In this funding round, SSPP is particularly interested in proposals focused on:

• preventing, mitigating or measuring plastic packaging litter pollution in the environment;
• facilitating and scaling-up the adoption of reuse, refill and prefill packaging systems; and
• novel chemical recycling approaches for PET (polyethylene terephthalate) packaging.

The competition runs until 9 November and full details of the scope and application process are available here. Interested applicants can also engage with the SSPP Challenge team at a number of in-person events this Autumn:

• RECOUP Plastics Resource & Recycling Conference, 29 September, KingsGate Conference Centre, Peterborough; and
• Materials Research Exchange, 3-5 October, Business Design Centre, Islington, London.

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