The "Certified Recycled Content NRW" project, or CEReCo for short, aims to strengthen the plastics processing industry, which for various reasons is increasingly switching – or having to switch – to recycled materials. To this end, a certificate trading platform is to be set up as an innovative service where suppliers and buyers of recyclate certificates can come together. Comparable concepts in emissions trading have led to cost savings of 47 per cent.
After developing a corresponding set of specifications and implementing a prototype, the project team quantifies the platform’s ecological and economic potential for North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW). Subsequently, the researchers validate the specific business model for operating the platform. Finally, the project results are scientifically processed and disseminated via target group-specific workshops.
Key milestones are the planned involvement of at least 100 companies trading recycled plastics on the platform, the survey of at least 500 companies in NRW on their expectations for the implementation of the platform, as well as instructive exchange with a minimum of 100 other stakeholders, not least with regard to developing political framework conditions.
By promoting such a platform, NRW will establish itself as a pioneer in the efficient implementation of minimum recyclate quotas, which are increasingly being used by the European Commission as a driver for the transformation to circular value creation.