LIFE MUSCLES - Life MUssel Sustainable production (re)cyCLES

The general objective of the LIFE MUSCLES project is to contribute to the reduction of the impact caused by the dispersion in the marine environment of the nets used in mussel farming. The project aim at promoting a more sustainable production that minimizes the dispersion of nets in the marine environment, therefore, recovering and recycling used nets in polypropylene through a Mobile Recycling Plant on a pre-industrial scale of a circular management system (collection, storage, treatment, recycling and reuse) of polypropylene socks and testing the use of alternative nets in biopolymer.

In particular, the project aims to:

o Start the transition to a circular economic model within the mussel production sector in two pilot areas in Italy, North Gargano and La Spezia, through the recovery and recycling of PP socks used for mussels farming in the former, and their replacement with brand new biodegradable and compostable biopolymer (BP) socks in the latter.

o Increase the sustainability of the mussel farming sector in the target areas by promoting the replacement of PP socks with BP socks and validate the feasibility of mechanical and organic recycling of BP socks.

o Provide Italian mussel farmers with a mobile Recycling Plant able to operate directly at their facilities.

o Characterise the recycled PP and BP materials to ensure their applicability within the mussel farming supply chain and other production chains/sectors.

o Promote the development of the new business model among companies in the mussel farming sector.

o Raise awareness of key stakeholders, such as farmers, distributors and consumers, on the sustainability of the mussel production sector.

o Define and transfer good practices to reduce the dispersion/abandonment of PP socks at sea.

Expected results:

o During the project lifetime, the Recycling Plant will treat a total amount of 71 tons of used PP socks. Of this, 50 tons of regenerated PP will be used to produce new mussel socks, while 5 tons will be used to produce 1 million recycled packaging nets.

o A pre-industrial scale demonstration of a circular management system at TRL 7 (collection, storage, treatment, recycling, and packaging) of PP waste.

o Economic motivation for mussel farmers, who will save at least 70% of purchase costs of PP nets and the full disposal costs for the used socks.

o Replacement of 26.5 ton of PP socks with BP socks in the pilot area of La Spezia.

o Closing of the mussel production cycle with maximum reduction of PP waste and valorisation (as compost) of BP waste by mechanical recycling and composting at the pilot sites.

o Involvement of 12 mussel farming operators in North Gargano in the collection and recovery of used PP socks and in the testing recycled ones and of 86 operators in La Spezia in BP socks testing.

o Creation of a reference standard for mussel farming socks to be proposed for UNI and ISO standardisation.

o One million consumers reached thanks to the mussel branding strategy and five million people reached by media-related activities.

o Mobile Recycling Plant treating 300 kg/day of used PP socks for 220 days/year on average by end of project. The amount of treated PP/year will be 66 tons; and

o Five years after project end, at least five mobile Treatment Plants operating in Italy, applied to some 33% of the Italian mussel production and able to treat 330 tons of PP socks/year, with a saving of 1 155 tons of CO2 emissions.