Improving circularity of multilayer flexible plastic food contact packaging
Innovation Actions to improve circularity of multilayer flexible plastic food contact packaging for recycling and reuse.
This call funds projects to develop recyclable multilayer flexible plastic food packaging. It aims to enable effective sorting, recycling, and reuse of food contact plastics. Projects should involve the full value chain and demonstrate industrial-scale solutions.
Likely relevant for
- Plastic packaging manufacturers
- Polymer and additives suppliers
- Food packaging converters
- Waste management and recycling companies
- Agri-food suppliers
- Brand owners and retailers
- Environmental technology developers
Project signals
What it funds
- Development of mono-material multilayer flexible plastic food contact packaging
- Improved eco-design for recycling and circularity
- Digital solutions for circularity such as digital product passports, AI, watermarking
- Physical and digital sorting technologies to improve recycling yield
- Recycling technologies including separation, purification, decontamination
- Industrial-scale demonstration involving full value chain
- Evaluation of economic, environmental, and social impacts using lifecycle assessments
Expected outcomes
- Recyclable food packaging that maintains quality and extends material lifetime
- Market introduction of sustainable food packaging by value chain actors
- Increased recycled content in food contact packaging
- Consumer awareness of proper disposal to enable circularity
Who can apply / participate
- Industry including SMEs and large companies
- Research organisations
- Universities
- Non-profit organisations
- Public bodies
- Engagement of all relevant value chain stakeholders is expected
- Consortia should include raw material producers, polymer and additives suppliers, converters, brand owners, retailers, agri-food suppliers, waste managers, and recyclers
- Legal entities established in China are not eligible to participate
- Check Annex B of Horizon Europe Work Programme for eligible countries
- Compliance with food contact regulations (Regulation 2022/1616 and Regulation 1935/2004) is mandatory
- Activities expected to reach TRL 6-8 by project end
- Exact consortium size and composition requirements
- Specific funding rates and maximum grant amounts
Must check before shortlisting
- Eligibility of participant countries and entities
- Specific consortium composition requirements
- Budget and funding rate details
- Compliance with food contact regulations
Money
Total budget around €11 million for 2026 with expected grants of 2. Minimum contribution per grant between €5 million and €6 million.
- Total budget 2026 — 11000000EUREstimated total budget for this call in 2026
- Minimum grant per project — 5000000EURMinimum funding per grant
- Maximum grant per project — 6000000EURMaximum funding per grant
Application notes
- Single-stage submission model. Proposals must comply with page limits and layout as per Horizon Europe General Annexes.
- Proposal page limits and layout as described in Annex A and Annex E of Horizon Europe Work Programme General Annexes
- Eligible countries as per Annex B of Horizon Europe Work Programme General Annexes
- Financial and operational capacity and exclusion criteria as per Annex C
- Evaluation criteria and procedures as per Annex D and Annex F
- Eligible costs covered by lump sum grants as per Decision of 7 July 2021
- Prepare proposal according to specific topic and general annexes
- Submit proposal via the Funding & Tenders Portal by deadline
- Ensure compliance with eligibility and admissibility criteria
- Use provided application and evaluation forms
- Consult National Contact Points and support services if needed
- Legal entities established in China are not eligible
- Check specific eligibility and consortium requirements before applying
Derived from official EU Funding portal source · updated 22 Jun 2026, 15:47 UTC. Use this as a shortlisting aid; the official call text remains authoritative.
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Official source text
Fine print from the EU source record. Expand when you need the original wording.
Topic description
Expected Outcome: Project results are expected to contribute to all of the following expected outcomes: environment and society at large benefit from recyclable food packaging which can be recycled and reused back into food packaging while keeping the quality, value and extending the material lifetime; industrial value chains including primary and secondary raw material producers, polymer suppliers, additives suppliers, converters, brand owners and retailers (SMEs and large companies), agri-food suppliers, waste managers and recyclers introduce sustainable food packaging on the market through enhanced design for recycling and solutions for effective sorting and recycling on an industrial scale, in line with the safe-and-sustainable-by-design principles [1] ; consumers and civil society are sufficiently informed about appropriate ways of disposal of used food packaging to enable its circularity. Scope: Plastic food packaging represents a significant part of all plastic packaging put on the EU market. Flexible films composed of multiple layers are commonly difficult to recycle. And to date, there is no market at scale for closing the loop and establish recycling systems from food contact back to food contact application. Despite the advancement of several solutions, there is a need to improve the efficiency of recycling solutions and reach as high as possible yield of food contact compliant recycled plastic coming from post-consumer packaging films. Proposals should: advance marketable solutions towards mono-material multilayer flexible plastic food contact packaging to enable its effective end-of-life collection, sorting and recycling into food contact-compliant recycled plastic suitable for food packaging; Improve eco-design of multilayer plastic food packaging and demonstrate at large scale digital solutions for circularity such as digital product passport; demonstrate individual and/or a combination of physical technologies and digital solutions (for example, AI, watermarking, or others) to further improve sorting yield of multilayer flexible packaging; test and demonstrate recycling technologies (separation, purification, decontamination, etc.) enabling uptake of food contact compliant recycled plastic into food contact packaging in line with the targets of the Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation; demonstrate pathways to increase the recycled content of food contact compliant recycled plastic in new food packaging products; demonstrate solutions on an industrial scale involving the whole value chain, while ensuring compliance with relevant food contact regulations (Regulation 2022/1616 and Regulation 1935/2004). Proposals should also evaluate the feasibility, effectiveness and impact of the demonstrated solutions using robust evaluation methods (including lifecycle assessments such as product environmental footprint, where relevant) and present data and evidence about the economic, environmental and social costs and benefits of the developed solutions. Engagement of all relevant value chain stakeholders is expected, i.e. primary and secondary raw material producers, polymer suppliers, additives suppliers, converters, agri-food suppliers, brand owners and retailers (SMEs and large companies), waste managers and recyclers. Clustering with other relevant Horizon Europe projects is encouraged. The topic supports the European Green Deal, the Regulation on Packaging and Packaging Waste, the Single Use Plastics Directive, the Waste Shipment Regulation, the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation and its working plan, the Regulation for recycling of plastic intended for contact with food, the Zero Pollution Action Plan, and the upcoming Circular Economy Act and contributes to Europe’s efforts to develop a single market for sustainable products. null Activities are expected to achieve TRL 6-8 by the end of the project – see General Annex B. Activities may start at any TRL. [1] Safe and sustainable by design - European Commission
Destination
This destination will support the EU Commission priorities ‘Sustaining our quality of life: food security, water and nature’ and ‘A new plan for Europe’s sustainable prosperity and competitiveness’. The destination supports the EU Green Deal [1] and contributes to Europe’s competitiveness and sustainable prosperity by supporting the development of a more resilient circular economy in line with the EU Competitiveness Compass [2] , the announced EU Clean Industrial Deal [3] and the EU Circular Economy Act. It aims to increase market demand for secondary materials and establish a single market for waste, whilst enhancing Europe’s efforts to develop a single market for sustainable products. It will also support the implementation of the framework conditions set by the EU Startup and Scaleup Strategy. Furthermore, the destination aims to facilitate the emergence and uptake of innovative, circular and bio-based materials, products, processes and value chains that play a key role for the defossilisation (reduction of feedstocks of fossil origin), climate neutrality and strategic autonomy of our economy, in line with the new EU bioeconomy strategy as well as with the New European Bauhaus. In addition, this destination supports several key EU policies including the industrial strategy, the European Chemicals Industry Action Plan [4] and the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation [5] and its working plan. It also contributes to the EU Biotechnology and Biomanufacturing Initiative, the SME strategy, the communication on safe and sustainable by design framework, the sustainable blue economy, the European Ocean Pact [6] , the European Water Resilience Strategy [7] , the European Life Sciences Strategy, the EU biodiversity strategy for 2030, and the Nature Restoration Regulation. Further support extends to the CAP, the EU forest strategy for 2030, the proposal for a Regulation on a forest monitoring framework, the EU proposal for a directive on soil monitoring and resilience, and the Vision for Agriculture and Food. The destination supports unlocking the unique assets for research and innovation of the EU outermost regions, in line with the EU strategy for outermost regions [8] . Legal entities established in China are not eligible to participate in both Research and Innovation Actions (RIAs) and Innovation Actions (IAs) falling under this destination. For additional information please see “Restrictions on the participation of legal entities established in China” found in General Annex B of the General Annexes. Expected impact : Proposals for topics under this destination should set out a credible pathway contributing to “ achieving healthy soils and forests, as well as clean air, fresh and marine water, whilst ensuring water resilience and the transition to a clean, competitive and circular economy and sustainable bioeconomy ”, and more specifically to one or more of the following expected impacts : Improved climate change adaptation and mitigation through the transition to a more sustainable and circular economy and bioeconomy, underpinned by biotechnologies and sustainable industrial solutions, such as carbon capture and utilisation and recovery of materials, water and energy. Industrial competitiveness, sustainability and strategic autonomy are improved through the development of safe, sustainable, circular and/or bio-based value chains. This is done by promoting the efficient and circular use of secondary materials and water, fostering the multi-functionality of forests, and ensuring the sustainable supply of critical resources from land and sea. Living conditions for individuals and communities are improved through innovative, affordable and sustainable safe and sustainable by design products and services based on circular and/or bio-based solutions while demonstrating a reduction of environmental and climate pressures. Advanced societal transformation based on a systemic approach, as well as people’s involvement and integration of social sciences and humanities for fair, safe, sustainable and circular value chains, sustainable consumption patterns, environmental justice, gender equality and social inclusion. [1] The European Green Deal - European Commission [2] https://commission.europa.eu/topics/eu-competitiveness/competitiveness-compass_en [3] Clean Industrial Deal - European Commission [4] European Chemicals Industry Action Plan – European Commission [5] Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation – European Commission [6] The European Ocean Pact - European Commission [7] Water resilience strategy - European Commission [8] COM(2022) Putting people first, securing sustainable and inclusive growth, unlocking the potential of the EU’s outermost regions.
Conditions and documents
General conditions
1. Admissibility Conditions: Proposal page limit and layout
2. Eligible Countries
described in Annex B of the Work Programme General Annexes.
A number of non-EU/non-Associated Countries that are not automatically eligible for funding have made specific provisions for making funding available for their participants in Horizon Europe projects. See the information in the Horizon Europe Programme Guide.
3. Other Eligible Conditions
described in Annex B of the Work Programme General Annexes.
4. Financial and operational capacity and exclusion
described in Annex C of the Work Programme General Annexes.
5a. Evaluation and award: Award criteria, scoring and thresholds
are described in Annex D of the Work Programme General Annexes.
5b. Evaluation and award: Submission and evaluation processes
are described in Annex F of the Work Programme General Annexes and the Online Manual.
5c. Evaluation and award: Indicative timeline for evaluation and grant agreement
described in Annex F of the Work Programme General Annexes.
6. Legal and financial set-up of the grants
Eligible costs will take the form of a lump sum as defined in the Decision of 7 July 2021 authorising the use of lump sum contributions under the Horizon Europe Programme – the Framework Programme for Research and Innovation (2021-2027) – and in actions under the Research and Training Programme of the European Atomic Energy Community (2021-2025) [[This decision is available on the Funding and Tenders Portal, in the reference documents section for Horizon Europe, under ‘Simplified costs decisions’ or through this link: https://ec.europa.eu/info/funding-tenders/opportunities/docs/2021-2027/horizon/guidance/ls-decision_he_en.pdf]].
described in Annex G of the Work Programme General Annexes.
Specific conditions
described in the [specific topic of the Work Programme]
Application and evaluation forms and model grant agreement (MGA):
Application form templates — the application form specific to this call is available in the Submission System
Standard application form (HE RIA, IA)
Evaluation form templates — will be used with the necessary adaptations
Standard evaluation form (HE RIA, IA)
Guidance
Model Grant Agreements (MGA)
Call-specific instructions
Additional documents:
HE Main Work Programme 2026-2027 – 1. General Introduction
HE Main Work Programme 2026-2027 – 15. General Annexes
HE Framework Programme 2021/695
HE Specific Programme Decision 2021/764
EU Financial Regulation 2024/2509
Decision authorising the use of lump sum contributions under the Horizon Europe Programme
Rules for Legal Entity Validation, LEAR Appointment and Financial Capacity Assessment
EU Grants AGA — Annotated Model Grant Agreement
Funding & Tenders Portal Online Manual
Support information
Online Manual is your guide on the procedures from proposal submission to managing your grant. Horizon Europe Programme Guide contains the detailed guidance to the structure, budget and political priorities of Horizon Europe. Funding & Tenders Portal FAQ – find the answers to most frequently asked questions on submission of proposals, evaluation and grant management. Research Enquiry Service – ask questions about any aspect of European research in general and the EU Research Framework Programmes in particular. National Contact Points (NCPs) – get guidance, practical information and assistance on participation in Horizon Europe. There are also NCPs in many non-EU and non-associated countries (‘third-countries’). Enterprise Europe Network – contact your EEN national contact for advice to businesses with special focus on SMEs. The support includes guidance on the EU research funding. IT Helpdesk – contact the Funding & Tenders Portal IT helpdesk for questions such as forgotten passwords, access rights and roles, technical aspects of submission of proposals, etc. European IPR Helpdesk assists you on intellectual property issues. CEN-CENELEC Research Helpdesk and ETSI Research Helpdesk – the European Standards Organisations advise you how to tackle standardisation in your project proposal. The European Charter for Researchers and the Code of Conduct for their recruitment – consult the general principles and requirements specifying the roles, responsibilities and entitlements of researchers, employers and funders of researchers. Partner Search help you find a partner organisation for your proposal.
Raw budget overview
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