Single-Use Plastics Recycling (SUPR) Grants

Single-Use Plastics Recycling (SUPR) Grants is sponsored by U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). This program seeks applications that enable the recycling and upcycling of plastic films. It addresses challenges associated with film recycling, including collection, sorting/separation, contamination, and lack of economic methods for recycling and upcycling.

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Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat Single-Use Plastic Recycling (SUPR) FOA Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) Advanced Manufacturing Office (AMO) DE-FOA-0002473: Single-Use Plastic Recycling (SUPR) FOA In November 2019, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced the Plastics Innovation Challenge , which aims to accelerate innovations to significantly reduce plastic waste and position the U.S. as a global leader in advanced plastics recycling technologies and in the development and manufacturing of plastics that are recyclable by design.

As part of the broader Plastics Innovation Challenge, DOE is issuing this Funding Opportunity Announcement to spur innovative solutions to plastics recycling. DOE’s Bioenergy Technologies Office (BETO) develops technologies that convert domestic biomass and waste resources into fuels, products, and power to enable affordable energy, economic growth, and innovation in renewable energy and chemicals production.

DOE’s Advanced Manufacturing Office (AMO) develops technologies that drive energy productivity improvements in the U.S. manufacturing sector, efficiently utilize abundant and available domestic energy resources, and support the manufacture of clean energy products with benefits extending across the economy.

This Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) will support high-impact technology research and development (R&D) in technologies that overcome the challenges associated with the recycling of films, which are often used in single-use packaging applications. Plastic waste is an internationally recognized problem.

Flexible, single-use packaging, including both single layer and multi-layer, (hereto referred to broadly as “films”) are among the most challenging plastics to recycle, upcycle, or biodegrade due to contamination and properties inherent to their use. At least 32% of global plastic packaging is leaked into the environment, while another 40% is landfilled, losing the energy and value embedded in this class of materials.

Films, which are primarily made up of LDPE and LLDPE, make up over five percent by weight wt% of landfilled waste in the US. New technologies to make recycling and upcycling of films economically viable, including designing films for easy recycling, upcycling, or degradation in the environment, will have a large economic and environmental impact.

Recycling and upcycling often yield products or plastics with significantly lower carbon footprints over virgin materials, with greenhouse gas emissions being reduced by as much as 70%. Moreover, improvements in recycling technology will lead to improved recycling economics, increased recycling infrastructure investment, and recycling jobs across the entirety of the United States.

State of the art technologies targeting films are highly varied due to the variability inherent to film materials. Research to address multilayer packaging has included single-polymer, single film substitutes, single-polymer multilayer film substitutes with each layer having specific orientation, solvent extraction, and thermal deconstruction.

Traditional single-polymer films are being addressed primarily through improved sorting and collection techniques and degradable/biodegradable alternatives, though these alternatives result in a loss of the embodied energy and value of the material.

Even after sorting, many films are landfilled due to the high cost associated with transporting this low density material, the low value of recycled films, and the low cost of virgin material. This FOA seeks applications that enable the recycling and upcycling of films. Challenges associated with film recycling are vast, spanning collection, sorting/separation, contamination, and lack of economic methods for recycling and upcycling.

Multilayer materials present further challenges, including immiscibility of different polymer layers and inclusion of inorganic materials. Technology can help to address these challenges by developing methods for recycling, deconstruction, and upcycling films that are sufficiently economic to incentivize collection, sorting and retention.

Designing films to be inherently more recyclable or biodegradable, while retaining desired properties such as flexibility, barrier properties and strength could also make recycling of films more economical.

This FOA aims to increase recycling, upcycling, or environmentally benign degradation of films by pursuing two approaches: Development of recycling and upcycling pathways that yield clear and economically favorable pathways for waste film will incentivize waste film collection and recycling; and Redesign of multi-layer films to be inherently recyclable or biodegradable, enabling this complex material to be included in the recycling stream.

DE-FOA-0002473_Question_and_Answer_Log (Last Updated: 9/27/2021 01:45 PM ET) (Last Updated: 9/27/2021 01:45 PM ET) Application Forms and Templates The following forms and templates may be used as part of the application submission. Note that these forms and templates do not necessarily constitute all the documents required for a complete application.

Please refer to the 'Application and Submission Information' of the published announcement to learn more about the required application content requirements. BudgetJustificationTemplate (Last Updated: 9/27/2021 01:45 PM ET) EERE_T_540.

131_Statement_of_Project_Objectives_(SOPO) (Last Updated: 9/27/2021 01:45 PM ET) SF_424_ Application_for_Federal_Assistance (Last Updated: 9/27/2021 01:45 PM ET) SF_LLL_Disclosure_of_Lobbying_Activities (Last Updated: 9/27/2021 01:45 PM ET) EERE-ExchangeSupport@hq. doe. gov For questions about this FOA.

Concept Paper Submission Deadline: 6/28/2021 5:00 PM ET Full Application Submission Deadline: 8/16/2021 5:00 PM ET View Full Application Reviewer Comments Period: 9/27/2021 5:00 PM ET – 9/30/2021 5:00 PM ET Web Site Policies | U.S. Department of Energy | DOE Responsible Disclosure