The ”Collection and sorting solutions for plastic waste” co-research project, also known as KEMU, will be launched in January 2025 to enhance the circular economy of plastics in Finland. Coordinated by VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland and thematically closely linked to the SPIRIT programme, the project aims to develop systemic methods for the collection and sorting of plastic waste. The focus is on ensuring high volumes of high-quality raw materials for refining and reuse.
Senior Scientist Riikka Kaipia from VTT acts as the project manager in the newly launched KEMU co-research project which brings together VTT and companies dealing with waste collection, recycling and sorting. The project complements the SPIRIT programme by tackling the logistics-related challenges. To reach the 50 % recycling target of plastic packaging , the waste collection should reach much higher yields than today. The KEMU project addresses this challenge by focusing on the collection and logistics of plastic waste — a critical supply chain phase in advancing the circular economy of plastics.
“The biggest volume losses in plastic recycling are happening in the waste collection phase. A regrettably high share of plastic waste ends up in mixed streams and incineration,” explains Jaakko Tuomainen from Borealis. “Improving the plastic waste collection, either by making it easier for consumers or more cost and environment efficient, provides a high potential to improve the plastic recycling value chain.”
The primary goal of the KEMU project is to identify and implement effective combinations of plastic waste collection and sorting methods. The project will focus on the so-called first mile problem in the supply chain, which refers to the first phase of reverse flows: returning the used materials from individual consumers as well as from organisations to refiners. In the context of plastic waste, this means studying the collection solutions of plastic waste from its producers (consumers, agriculture, retail, construction and industry), including the interaction between sorting-at-source and centralised sorting, as well as exploring data-driven solutions for managing waste streams.
To direct the research of the project, different waste stream scenarios will be selected for a detailed study to provide insights about the applicability, suitability and efficiency of various flow designs in different contexts. “Even though all plastic waste is of interest in the project, the focus areas will be defined with help the project partners. These scenarios and modellings form the guidelines or knowledge to decide how to manage different plastic waste streams,” states Riikka Kaipia. For example, the project aims to study certain cases to learn how sorting of waste should be done at the place of origin and how waste fractions should be separated from mixed waste. Additionally, the project will also touch upon the question of if other waste fractions, such as cardboard or metal, can be collected together with plastics.
An interesting topic in KEMU is also how to use data to manage the waste flows, and for example how to incentivise sorting at the source. “This is an exciting and promising area which is expected to provide us with new information on the management of waste flows to improve efficiency and obtain a high recycling rate assisted by good collection yield,” Riikka Kaipia says.
Riikka Kaipia continues: “As project outcomes, I would like to see that we will achieve feasible scenarios to compare different solutions to each other which will support us in decision making. Using data widely is an exciting and promising area which is expected to provide us with new information on the logistics of waste management to understand how to guide it and how to obtain a good yield.”
Jaakko Tuomainen sees that the KEMU project seeks answers to the following questions: “How should the separated plastic waste collection be developed to increase the collection volumes? Or should we maybe introduce co-mingled collection to make it easier for consumers? I have no answers at the moment, but I expect this project will give us clear, fact-based directions for developing the plastic waste collection. We need to get more plastic waste volumes into recycling!”
The project, which runs from early January 2025 until the end of October 2026, is funded by Business Finland, VTT and participating companies. Key partners include Borealis Polymers Oy, Rosk’n Roll Oy Ab, Suomen Pakkaustuottajat Oy, PS Processing Oy, Marimatic Oy, Kapasity Oy, Finncont Ympäristötuotteet, Uudenmaan liitto.