The PLASTICE project has published a comprehensive Training Materials Guidebook alongside a full package of open learning resources covering innovative recycling technologies for plastic and textile waste.
The training package addresses one of the most persistent gaps in Europe’s recycling landscape: the significant share of plastic and textile waste that cannot be adequately treated through conventional mechanical recycling alone — mixed streams, contaminated materials, and multilayered products that too often end up incinerated or landfilled despite being separately collected.
A learning pathway from technology to policy
The PLASTICE training materials are organised into three modules and eight units, each supported by a short video and a downloadable PDF. Together, they form a coherent learning pathway that moves from core technological principles, through pilot-scale demonstration and techno-economic assessment, to the policy and regulatory conditions needed to support wider deployment.
Module 1 – Innovative Technologies for Circular Plastic Value Chains introduces three complementary recycling pathways developed within PLASTICE:
• Microwave-assisted pyrolysis, which processes mixed polyolefin-rich plastic waste into pyrolysis oil suitable for second-generation olefin production (CIRCE, Spain);
• Gasification with catalytic post-treatment, a full conversion chain from Solid Recovered Fuel to light olefins via syngas and dimethyl ether (RINA-CSM, Italy);
• Enzymatic hydrolysis, a low-energy bio-based approach to separating cotton–polyester textile blends, enabling polyester recovery and sugar valorisation (TCKT, Austria).
Module 2 – Testing and Demonstration of Recycling Technologies presents pilot-scale results, demo-site operations, and a techno-economic feasibility study. A hydrothermal liquefaction pathway evaluated by the University of Amsterdam reports production costs of 1.6 €/kg for ethylene and a return on investment of 8.2%, with a payback period of 3.1 years — demonstrating that advanced recycling can offer credible economic pathways alongside its technical promise.
Module 3 – Policy Alignment for Plastic Recycling examines the regulatory and market conditions needed to bring these technologies to scale, including the case for treating mechanical and chemical recycling as strategically complementary routes, and the policy levers — from Extended Producer Responsibility to harmonised certification schemes — that can accelerate the transition.
Designed for multiple audiences
The guidebook accompanying the training package has been developed to help readers from different professional and academic backgrounds — engineers, researchers, waste managers, educators, students, and policymakers — engage with the materials confidently. A reader profile table offers tailored entry points, while a dedicated glossary of key concepts provides shared vocabulary across disciplines.
The materials are freely accessible and designed for use in higher education, vocational training, professional upskilling, and stakeholder dialogue. Individual units can be used as stand-alone teaching inputs or combined into a broader learning programme.
Access the training materials guidebook
Photo credits: Mikhail Nilov on Pexels
