Two new info packs present the first steps of the ViSS value chain
The ViSS project has released two new info packs presenting the first stages of the value chain towards sustainable bio-based packaging.
Funded by the European Union, ViSS is developing innovative packaging solutions based on PHBV, a biodegradable biopolymer produced from industrial residues. The two info packs offer a clear overview of how waste streams can be transformed into valuable materials through circular and safe processes.
To make the ViSS approach easier to understand, ViSS project’s partners developed new materials, translating complex research into a more accessible visual format. Aimed at stakeholders across the bioeconomy value chain, from researchers and industry representatives to innovation actors and wider non-specialist audiences, the info packs explain how organic side streams from the food industry can become a valuable resource for new packaging solutions, and how material formulation can help overcome some of the main processing and performance limitations of bioplastics.
The info packs help make the ViSS approach more tangible, showing how different steps in the process contribute to building a circular packaging solution. From preparing alternative feedstocks for fermentation to identifying safe additives that improve processing and material behaviour, they offer a practical overview of the work being carried out in the project.
The first info pack, From food industry to fermentation focuses on the early steps of the value chain, from food industry residues to fermentation processes. It explains how sugar-rich effluents and poultry by-products are conditioned and used as feedstock for the microbial production of PHBV, turning industrial side streams into a resource for sustainable packaging.
The second info pack looks at PHBV formulation and compounding. It highlights how the project is improving the polymer’s processability and material performance through safe and sustainable additives, combining computational modelling with experimental validation.
Together, the two info packs show how ViSS is building a circular approach that starts from residue valorisation and moves towards the development of high-performance bio-based packaging materials.
Read more on ViSS Zenodo channel
ViSS fifth newsletter
Embark on a journey to explore innovative bio-based plastics with ViSS newsletter.
Dear readers,
The ViSS project continues to advance in its mission to develop safe, sustainable, and biodegradable packaging solutions. Over the past months, the consortium has made important progress across research, policy engagement, and knowledge sharing, with new publications and resources now being released.
Two new policy briefs have recently been shared: the first on SSbD evaluation framework and recommendations for bio-based plastics and another on Recommendations on missing aspects in standardisation and regulation of bio-based materials and products. These contributions address key policy and regulatory aspects supporting the development of sustainable bio-based plastics.
In parallel, new articles and technical publications are being released, including insights into the ViSS ICT platform. To improve accessibility, all project resources are now available on Zenodo, allowing everyone to easily access the project’s results.
At the beginning of March, the ViSS consortium met to review the activities carried out in recent months and to plan the next steps. The meeting was kindly hosted by AITEX, which gave partners the opportunity to visit their facilities and learn more about their work.
Looking ahead, in April ViSS will participate in a major international conference, Polymers 2026, in Portugal.
Many more results are on the way, including new papers, infopacks, and events.
Stay tuned for more updates!
On behalf of the ViSS Team
Read the newsletter online
Polymers 2026 invites CETEC to present ViSS, ANIPH and PHAntastic
The three projects will co-organise a workshop in the international conference, together with their sister projects
Advancing sustainable and circular polymer solutions will be at the centre of discussions during the 4th edition of Polymers: From Sustainability to Smart Systems 2026, taking place from 8 to 10 April 2026 in Lisbon. The international conference gathers researchers, innovators and industry representatives to exchange knowledge on the latest developments in sustainable polymer science, smart materials and circular innovation.
ViSS, coordinated by CETEC, together with ANIPH and PHAntastic, will co-organise a joint EU workshop together with fellow European initiatives. The session will bring together ViSS sister projects from the BIO4PACK cluster, REBIOLUTION, MAGNO, and STOPP, to promote collaboration and knowledge exchange across projects working on safe and sustainable polymer systems.
Titled “Safe and Sustainable Bio-Based Polymers: From Design to End-of-Life in Circular Value Chains”, the workshop will showcase advances in bio-based and biodegradable materials developed across European R&I projects. Presentations will explore the full lifecycle of these materials, from design and application to end-of-life solutions, with particular attention to the Safe and Sustainable by Design (SSbD) approach and circular value chains.
The session will also highlight the contributions of the ViSS project to the development of innovative, sustainable polymer systems and demonstrate how collaborative research within European clusters can accelerate the transition towards safer and more circular materials.
The full agenda is avaliable here!
From lemon waste to bioplastic: new research on Haloferax mediterranei highlights PHBV potential
A new research article published in Polymers presents an new approach to transforming lemon processing residues into biopolymers
The study, authored by CETEC, was published in collaboration with partners from ViSS and the related projects ANIPH and PHAntastic.
The research explores the use of by-products from the lemon processing industry as carbon sources for producing PHBV through the halophilic archaeon Haloferax mediterranei. This approach demonstrates how agricultural residues can be valorised within a circular bioeconomy framework while supporting the production of biodegradable plastics.
The study explains how the resulting polymer is supplemented with nucleating agents: orotic acid, boron nitride, and theobromine, to improve its crystallisation properties. Among these, orotic acid showed the most promising results, significantly enhancing crystallisation kinetics. The use of nucleating agents also improved the material’s crystallisation behaviour and mechanical stiffness, expanding the potential applications of the produced PHBV.
To evaluate its performance, the new PHBV was compared with a commercial PHBV grade (Enmat Y1000) under identical conditions. The results showed that the material obtained from lemon waste exhibited greater flexibility, lower crystallinity, and a high hydroxyvalerate content, contributing to improved ductility.
Overall, the research highlights an efficient pathway for producing PHBV through waste valorisation, delivering a biopolymer with physicochemical properties that are competitive with commercial alternatives.
Read more about it!
From textile heritage to sustainable innovation: ViSS meets in Alcoy
Partners gathered at AITEX to advance the development and validation of bio-based packaging solutions
Despite grey skies and occasional rain, ViSS partners gathered last week in the charming historic town of Alcoy, Alicante Province, Spain, where innovation is part of the city’s identity. Nestled among rugged mountain landscapes, Alcoy has long been known as one of Spain’s historic industrial centres, where the textile, paper, and metallurgy sectors drove an early wave of industrialisation in the 19th century and shaped the city’s distinctive architecture. The ViSS General Assembly took place in this inspiring setting, bringing partners together to review progress and plan the next steps of the project.
The meeting was hosted by AITEX, a leading Spanish textile research centre located at the foot of the mountains, known for its work in textile innovation, material development, and testing services for the textile and packaging industries. Within the project, AITEX plays a key role in supporting the development of PHBV compounds through different formulation ranges and validating their transformation into mesh packaging using melt spinning and knitting processes at small scale. The research centre will also assess the tenacity and mechanical performance of the textile materials.
In parallel, the validation of the ViSS packaging at small scale will be defined by Tecnoalimenti in collaboration with PROPAGROUP, establishing the strategy for testing and evaluating the developed solutions. Thanks to the collaboration of all partners, the coordination of CETEC, and KVELOCE, VTT, IRIS, Helian Polymers, IDENER, Zukan, the University of Alicante, and the University of Birmingham, the project is advancing knowledge about sustainable food packaging. In the coming months, ViSS will move forward with key development and new activities.
Beach clean-up collects plastic waste in Alicante
Within ViSS, the University of Alicante volunteering team collects 25 kg of waste, raising awareness and generating data on coastal litter
On Saturday, 21 February 2026, 23 volunteers from the Healthy and Sustainable University Program (VUSAMA) at the University of Alicante participated in a citizen science beach clean-up at Agua Amarga beach in Alicante. Over a 100-meter stretch of shoreline, participants collected a total of 25.65 kg of waste, providing valuable insight into the types and quantities of litter affecting the local coastal environment. The clean-up was carried out as part of the ViSS project.
Among the most commonly found items were small plastic fragments, construction debris, cotton bud sticks, and glass pieces. These findings highlight the persistence of plastic and other waste in coastal environments, which can negatively impact marine wildlife through ingestion, entanglement, and habitat disruption.
The materials collected included:
- 810 plastic items, including fragments both smaller and larger than 2.5 cm
- 280 items of glass and ceramics, including bricks, tiles, and construction debris
- 105 paper items
- 95 metal items
- 27 pieces of wood
- 11 textile items
- 5 pieces of rubber
These kinds of activities aim to raise awareness about plastic pollution and its impact on our coastal ecosystems, other than generating valuable data.
Plastic waste doesn’t just disappear — it breaks down into smaller pieces, persists in the environment, and can severely affect marine wildlife through ingestion, entanglement, and habitat disruption.
Through citizen engagement and scientific monitoring, small actions such as these help advance the project’s goal of promoting circular, bio-based solutions while protecting coastal ecosystems.
Pictures by: University of Alicante
Advancing biopolymer design through thermal analysis and modelling
ViSS project insights into the thermal behaviour of the biodegradable polymer PHBV
Within the European project ViSS, partners are working to develop and optimise biopolymers by improving the understanding of their thermal and structural properties. Romain Delannoy, Research Fellow at the University of Birmingham, presented recent results from a joint study with computational theorists from VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland.
Flash Differential Scanning Calorimetry (Flash DSC) experiments were carried out to validate the Molecular Dynamics modelling. Unlike conventional DSC, Flash DSC enables extremely high cooling rates – up to 4,000 K/s – keeping the biodegradable polymer PHBV fully amorphous and allowing for a more accurate determination of its glass transition temperature (Tg)
Two methods were compared: one correcting for structural relaxation effects, and another using these effects to directly identify the glass transition. Within ViSS, this work allows for more accurate predictions of thermal properties of PHBV and understand how to control crystallisation.
Image by Freepik
ViSS publishes two policy briefs
The documents offer a roadmap for safe, sustainable bio-based plastics in Europe
The ViSS project publishes two policy briefs focused on critical gaps and solutions for the EU bio-based plastics sector. The briefs are an essential reading for policymakers shaping the transition to a climate-neutral, circular economy.
Bio-based plastics hold enormous promises for reducing environmental impact and supporting the EU’s climate-neutrality goals. Yet, their adoption remains limited, constrained by unclear regulatory frameworks, insufficient recycling infrastructure, and a lack of standardised approaches to assess safety, sustainability, and end-of-life performance.
The first policy brief explores the Safe and Sustainable by Design (SSbD) framework, showing how sustainability and safety can be integrated from the earliest stages of product development. It demonstrates that bio-based solutions can match conventional plastics in performance and cost, while being fully recyclable and biodegradable. The policy brief highlights innovative approaches to involve value chain actors, tailor assessments to technology readiness levels, and develop practical, easy-to-use indicators for environmental, social, and economic impacts.
The second policy brief addresses gaps in standardisation and regulation. Current standards were largely developed for fossil-based plastics and often fail to reflect the unique properties of bio-based materials. ViSS provides recommendations to harmonise definitions, improve traceability and labelling, align recycling and composting systems, and foster policy frameworks that make bio-based plastics both safer and commercially viable.
Download ViSS SSbD EVALUATION FRAMEWORK AND RECOMMENDATIONS FOR BIO-BASED PLASTICS
These two policy briefs are just the beginning. The ViSS project will continue to release further policy briefs, each tackling critical challenges and solutions across the bio-based value chain, offering policymakers actionable tools to shape a sustainable, circular, and competitive plastics sector.
EDMA magazine publishes ViSS ICT Platform article
A new digital traceability tool for collection, processing and sharing of information across PHBV value chains
ViSS announces that EDMA magazine has published the project latest article, ‘ViSS project: ICT platform for traceability and sustainable decision-making’.
Developed by CETEC, the ViSS ICT Platform brings together traceability, SSbD-based evaluation and public tools to support transparent, safe and sustainable bio-based products and to prevent greenwashing.
Why and how the ViSS ICT Platform works
The ViSS ICT Platform is a digital platform designed to link residues, materials, processes and final PHBV products in real time, responding to data fragmentation, regulatory requirements and the need for reliable information. The platform is built around three interoperable modules:
- The traceability tool, which provides end-to-end tracking of residues, sub-products and PHBV batches;
- The evaluation and decision tool, which applies SSbD indicators, lifecycle and social readiness criteria to support benchmarking and optimisation;
- The public tool, which translates project data into accessible, trustworthy information for consumers and civil society, aligned with the digital product passport approach.
Developed using an agile methodology and a secure, web-based architecture, the platform enables real-time data entry, automatic calculations, graphical visualisation and transparent reporting, helping partners and stakeholders make robust, evidence-based sustainability decisions.
Read the full publication on Zenodo: https://zenodo.org/records/17881508.
European Commission updated Bioeconomy Strategy: opportunities for ViSS
The European Commission has presented a new EU Bioeconomy Strategy designed to strengthen Europe’s competitiveness, support the transition away from fossil-based resources, and enhance resilience across strategic sectors.
The initiative outlines how the EU intends to scale up the production and use of renewable biological resources by improving innovation deployment, reducing regulatory barriers, and encouraging investment in bio-based solutions.
The strategy focuses on advancing sustainable production systems, supporting the uptake of biobased materials, and building reliable markets for products such as bio-based chemicals, advanced materials, and fertilisers. It also emphasises the role of research and cross-sector collaboration in accelerating the shift toward a circular and resource-efficient economy.
Relevance for ViSS
For ViSS, the updated strategy provides a favourable policy context for its work on developing bio-based solutions and advancing sustainable practices. Several elements are particularly aligned with ViSS objectives:
Support for innovation scaling, directly relevant to ViSS work on developing and validating advanced bioplastic materials.
A stronger focus on circular resource use, reinforcing the project’s efforts to design bioplastics that integrate recycling, biodegradability, and sustainable end-of-life pathways.
Attention to resilient and sustainable value chains, aligning with ViSS activities aimed at improving the production, processing, and market uptake of sustainable bioplastic solutions.
The updated EU Bioeconomy Strategy provides a clear signal of the growing importance of bio-based innovation in Europe. For ViSS, these policy developments offer new opportunities to engage with industry stakeholders, contribute to emerging standards for bioplastics, and support the wider deployment of sustainable materials. As the project advances, ViSS will continue to translate research into practical solutions and collaborate with actors across the value chain to help accelerate the shift toward a more circular, resilient bioeconomy.