In Central Europe, just like elsewhere, most plastics still follow a very simple path:
make – use – throw away.
The GreenChemForCE project wants to help change that story.
Why we need to talk about plastics now
Every year, the world produces hundreds of millions of tonnes of plastic. A growing share is used only once – especially in packaging – and then discarded. Even if we recycle part of it, a lot still ends up in landfills, is burned for energy or leaks into nature.
For Central Europe, this isn’t just an environmental issue. It’s also about:
dependence on fossil fuels,
lost resources that could be used again,
and pressure on local waste systems and communities.
If we want a more resilient, greener economy, we have to rethink how we design, produce, use and reuse plastics.
That’s where GreenChemForCE comes in.
What is GreenChemForCE doing with plastics?
Within the project, one of the first big tasks was simple to ask, but complex to answer:
How are plastics really produced and managed in Central Europe today – and what could we do better?
To answer this, the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Slovenia (CCIS), together with the University of Ljubljana, Charles University in Prague and the Czech Technology Platform Plastics, prepared an in-depth analysis of the plastics landscape in four countries: Slovenia, Austria, Czech Republic and Hungary.
But instead of just ticking off boxes for a report, the idea was this:
understand the full story of plastics – from oil or biomass all the way to the recycling bin – and then look for turning points where that story can become more circular.