Increasing the circularity of bio-based sector: upcycling and recycling for higher value and environmental benefits

Expected Outcome:Project results are expected to contribute to all of the following expected outcomes:European industry’s competitiveness, decarbonisation, and strategic autonomy are enhanced through the development and deployment of safe, sustainable, circular and bio-based value chains;improved climate change adaptation and mitigation and overall environmental sustainability, as well as higher resource efficiency, through application of biotechnologies and industrial symbiosis, and recovery of biological materials, water and energy. Scope:The projects under this topic are relevant to the EU policies related to the Commission communication on: Building the future with nature: Boosting Biotechnology and Biomanufacturing in the EU, the Life Sciences Strategy, the EU Biotech Act, Clean Industrial Deal and the SME Strategy. It also contributes to the Start-ups and Scale-ups strategy. Synergies with activities under the Circular Bio-based Europe (CBE) Joint Undertaking[1] and New European Bauhaus are strongly encouraged, while taking care to avoid overlaps.Proposals should address the following activities:develop and deploy/scale-up safe and sustainable, circular and bio-based materials, products, processes and value chains, e.g. including but not limited to the construction, packaging, pulp and paper, textile sectors, or other bio-based consumer products, using upcycled and recycled resources incorporating secondary raw materials with minimal quality loss, aiming at best environmental performance, while increasing the uptake of recycled materials and preventing waste through repair, refurbishment, and reuse, and paying attention to environmental and health risks and trade-offs due to treated or impregnated bio-based materials, where relevant. Bioenergy/biofuels sector is not in scope, but synergies with this sector can be considered while respecting the cascading biomass valorisation principle and aiming at the industrial symbiosis;develop innovative new, or upgraded e