PRS, a disruptive technology for the industrial repair of large series of reusable plastic articles in the circular economy

Project Information

PRS

Grant agreement ID: 807611

DOI

10.3030/807611

Project closed

EC signature date 31 January 2018

Start date 1 February 2018

End date 31 July 2018

Funded under

• SOCIETAL CHALLENGES - Climate action, Environment, Resource Efficiency and Raw Materials

Total cost

€ 71 429,00

EU contribution

€ 50 000,00

Coordinated by

PLASTIC REPAIR SYSTEM 2011 SL
Spain

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - PRS (PRS, a disruptive technology for the industrial repair of large series of reusable plastic articles in the circular economy)

Reporting period: 2018-02-01 to 2018-07-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

The PRS project by Plastic Repair System 2011 S.L. was approved within the call for SME Instrument H2020, Topic SME Inst-11-2016-2017 Boosting the potential of small businesses in the areas of climate action, environment, resource efficiency and raw materials, Call 2017-11-09.
In Europe, there are 1.8 billion items of plastic Returnable Transport Packaging (RTP), which are plastic pallets and crates that are used across various sectors, including the automotive, beverage, logistic and pooling services. Also in Europe, the number of plastic street containers for Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) exceeds ten million. The average lifetime of these articles ranges from five to ten years. When they break, these items are discarded and replaced with new ones. Discarded items have three destinations: recycling, incineration or as landfill. The owners of these plastic elements barely consider the possibility of their repair.Almost no company repair these items. This is a big problem in terms of business cost and environmental cost.
We have developed and patented the technology for the repair large series of plastic elements through heat-welding alongside the use of high-density virgin plastic material. We have developed an industrialized process, which allows it to reduce repair times and costs while guaranteeing the homogeneity and quality of repairs. This process is the result of more than five years of performing tests on more than 100 different plastic articles.
The overall objective of the Project is to confirm the business strategy, business model, intellectual property and marketing strategies of the company Plastic Repair System 2011 S.L.
To do so, we have improved our business plan to allows the international business expansion of our company.
The Project has been developed as planned, in terms of deadlines, budgets, actions, and results obtained.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

The first activity has been a market research. We have carried out a detailed study of the number of different reusable plastic articles in the chosen segments in the main countries we are looking to address. The result of this research has confirmed the existence of a market of several hundred million reusable plastic articles.
After that, we have confirmed that the sales growth model reflects the need to open our own delegations (workshops/factories where the repair of plastic items under the process established by PRS will be carried out) in different European regions.
We have also studied the most suitable locations in Europe to open our first delegations.
On the other hand, we have established a long-term strategy for IP protection, which includes an extension of the Spanish patent and utility models for the rest of Europe, the US and other countries where we plan to offer our services in the future. We have estimated a detailed budget for the costs involved in patent applications.
Finally, the business model has been rethought employing the Canvas methodology and we have improved our business plan, including economic & financial projections for the next five years.
We should note that the three business coaching sessions were very profitable.
The coaching has provided PRS2011 with specific tools that have allowed us to establish objectives for each area of the company and enabled the corresponding monitoring in regard to their compliance. The coaching sessions have also been useful to plan out the growth the company is seeking, both from an organizational point of view, and also in regard to finding local partners in other countries.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

Plastic Repair System 2011 S.L. is the first company that have industrialize the process for repairing large series of reusable plastic articles with completely successful results.
Repairs undertaken with PRS technology have been analysed by independent laboratories that have certified that PRS recovers 100% of the object's functionality and at least 98% of its original strength.
The industrialization of processes allows the systematic repair of large volumes of plastic articles, achieving significant cost savings for our customers, as well as environmental advantages.
The PRS founders aim to demonstrate that their solution for the industrial repair of a large series of reusable plastic articles:
- Generates a business with high returns.
- Positions PRS as a leading company in the circular economy at an international level.
- Significantly contributes to reduce the carbon footprint in Europe by staking on reusing materials, which has clear advantages over recycling.
- Creates several hundred jobs in their repair factories throughout Europe.

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