BioTWINE hop waste transformation into novel product assortments for packaging and horticulture sector
About the project
Project LIFE BioTHOP
The object of this project is to replace the polypropylene twine on the hop fields with the biotwine made of polylactic acid (PLA) which is produced from renewable resources, and that can be degraded by composting into water, CO2 and biomass.
Hop plant biomass after harvest can be used as main ingredient of composting and afterwards used as a natural fertiliser or material to produce biodegradable products (bio-composites, planting pots, packaging trays). Therefore, the agro-waste can be drastically reduced and the economy of the sold agro-waste to bioplastic producers can be increased.
Welcome to attend the record of the final LIFE project BioTHOP conference to recognize all the inteersting restults, leading to implementation of circular eonomy to hop growing.
At the start of the conference, which took place on the 15th of Nov 2022, and was attended by 123 participants from all over the World, IHPS manager Mr Bojan Cizej and the financers of the project welcomed the participants. We thank them all once more: the LIFE programme of the EU for participation of 55%, Slovenian Ministry of Environment and Spatial Planning, all six municipalities of Lower Savinja Valley that are Žalec, Braslovče, Tabor, Polzela, Vransko and Prebold, and the Slovenian Hop Growers Association. We believe that support from the local community and hop growers was one strong fact that BioTHOP got its support in Brussels as well. We are happy that the BioTHOP ideas were recognized on the wide international level. We can say that the majority of hop growers and professionals in this field know at least some emphasis of the BioTHOP results.
And also, LIFE BioTHOP:
- won the gold awards for the best innovation in Slovenia’s Lower Savinja Valley region and in Celje region,
- it was one of the finalists in the idea category within the 6th conference “NEW TECHNOLOGIES IN AGRICULTURE”, Finance magazine, Slovenia, in December 2021,
- it got bronze award in the national level (Slovenia) for the inovation by the country’s Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s Innovation Awards in September 2022,
- partners Zelfo Technology and TRIDAS were announced as key innovators on the EU level by the EC Innovation Radar as one of the Market Creating Innovation “Hop waste fibre sheets reused for wine bottle packaging”, in December 2021,
- it was selected as one of the best projects in the field of circular economy to be presented on the European Commission stand on the Ecomondo fair in Rimini in November 2022,
- and as one of the examples of good practise for the implementation of the EU Green deal documents on sustainable packaging.
Project’s showcase – what was the problem, the goals, what we were doing for 3.5 years and what we achieved; you are welcome to watch 😊
