Issued by 2026 Magazine

CircPlastX: data space for plastic circularity

Innovation

AUTHOR : Tjerk Timan, CircPlastX project coordinator

Making plastic circularity operational, effective and safe is the ambition of the European CircPlastX project and its shared data platform. Let’s look at how this future tool will help industry players take a systemic approach to the circular economy.

Increased need for traceability and transparency

In recent years, societal and regulatory pressure has increased to encourage industry to move towards a circular economy by, for example, using more recycled materials and sharing more information about the materials used, in order to improve their overall circularity. However, the economic reality in the plastics sector is challenging: the influx of cheap and often uncontrollable virgin materials is flooding the European market, making the use of recycled plastics financially unviable.

Companies must also adapt to a constantly changing European legislative landscape (e.g. through REACH and the eco-design, sustainability and packaging regulations (PPWR)), which sets requirements for chemical safety, packaging sustainability, product design and material reuse. Compliance with these environmental regulations is essential for circularity in the plastics sector, but also for protecting human health, reducing environmental impacts and maintaining market competitiveness.

A number of key elements must therefore be in place for circularity to work: traceability, geographical location, reusability or recyclability of materials, but also an understanding of the quality and quantity of potentially reusable materials on the market, and economic viability and business models.

This increased need for traceability and transparency affects suppliers and product developers throughout the value chain. It is in this context that the CircPlastX project¹ is attempting to reverse the trend by developing a data space dedicated to the plastics industry, facilitating circularity through data sharing at all levels.

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