Circular Bioeconomy & Packaging in Action
- Circuleire IMR
- 12 minutes ago
- 8 min read
On Thursday Irish Manufacturing Research hosted our Q1 CIRCULÉIRE network meeting 'Circular Bioeconomy & Packaging in Action’ at Aryzta in Dublin. With over 40 cross sectoral members attending to get the latest updates from DCEE, stats from the EPA and insights from members including a tour around the Aryzta bakery - it was a very informative session.
Niall McLoughlin, Principal Officer, CE Strategic Policy Unit, Department, Climate, Energy & the Environment opened the session with an overview of the recently launched Whole of Government Circular Economy Strategy and its sectoral priorities.
Fergal Mulligan from the EPA Circular Economy Waste Statistics Team advised the group that 2024 stats are work in progress but that 2023 figures indicate that Ireland generated 1.2 million tonnes of packaging waste, with paper & cardboard being the largest share, followed by plastic, glass, wood, and metals. Despite rising recycling volumes, packaging waste has increased by 20% since 2016, while recycling has risen only 5%, causing national recycling rates to decline. Ireland’s overall 2023 recycling rate was 59%, leaving the country at risk of missing the 2025 EU target of 65%. Targets for glass and wood were met for both 2023 and 2025, while paper & cardboard is on track for 2025. However, aluminium and ferrous metals are at risk, and plastic recycling targets are unlikely to be achieved. The 2024 Return deposit return scheme may improve plastic and aluminium recycling but will not fully close the target gap. Ireland also faces significant financial consequences: under the EU’s Plastic Own Resource mechanism, failure to recycle plastic packaging cost approximately €200 million in 2023.
Helen Searson from the EPA Food Waste Prevention Team updated the group on the Food Waste Charter.
Dr Geraldine Brennan, Director of Circular Economy Innovation at Irish Manufacturing Research (IMR), welcomed the group and our newest members CircolELT. MT Sustainability Consulting, Kinset & Mesh Bioplastics. Geraldine wished the 2025 Steering Group farewell and welcomed the 2026 Cohort – Ciaran McGann, AIB, Anthony O’Dea, Green IT, Mary O’Riordan, HaPPE Earth and Amanda Stewart, HPBA.
Agnese Metitieri, IMR Circular Ventures Lead chaired the session ‘Circular Bioeconomy & Packaging Insights’
Gary Browne from Repak shared the latest progress on PPWR highlighting that the upcoming packaging regulations require producers to formally identify themselves and join a national producer register before placing packaging on the market. Manufacturers must supply a Declaration of Conformity for each packaging type, detailing recyclability, minimisation, material restrictions, and any targets. A new national labelling system will replace all existing packaging labels, including the green dot, which will shift to a QR code. Producers should now assess how these changes affect their business, review packaging designs, confirm their role in the supply chain, and begin preparing for the regulatory transition starting in August 2026.
Mary O’Riordan from HaPPE Earth wants to address the massive and often overlooked waste problem created by singleuse PPE across healthcare, pharmaceuticals, medtech, food processing, and other industries. Most PPE cannot be recycled because it is made from multiple composite materials (plastic film, elastic thread, synthetic bands), making disassembly unrealistic. HaPPE Earth have developed the first fully compostable overshoe, using nonfoodsource, home and industrial compostable bioresins and specially developed compostable elastication. Because manufacturers refused to run these biomaterials on their production lines, HaPPE established its own manufacturing capability in Cork. To close the loop, they developed an onsite packaging-based biodigester for healthcare settings that processes compostable PPE and food waste into nitrogenrich fertiliser while using plasma technology for decontamination. This decentralised system reduces risk, cuts downstream waste costs, and provides feedstock for anaerobic digestion and future biofuel production. Given that medical waste costs €1,800 per tonne and is often offshored for incineration or landfilled (where PPE can persist for 50–100 years), upstream segregation offers major environmental and economic benefits.
Katie O’Riordan from Kinset spoke on the topic of Smart Labels. The consumer goods sector in Europe generates massive waste with millions of tonnes of unsold goods, furniture, and food resulting in significant lost value and zero real‑time product visibility. Traditional labels and packaging can’t support the data, traceability, or responsiveness required for a circular economy. Smart labels offer a scalable solution by enabling automated circular workflows, dynamic pricing to reduce waste, real‑time traceability for faster recalls, and new digital retail touchpoints that drive engagement and sales. Market and regulatory shifts (including GS1’s Sunrise 2027 transition to 2D barcodes and new EU requirements such as EUDR, batch traceability, PPWR, and allergen rules) are accelerating the need for intelligent labelling. Kinset’s smart QR codes address all these needs simultaneously, providing a compliant, future‑ready, and highly functional platform for circularity, transparency, and digital retail activation.
Lavanya Bhandari from Ecoroots believes today’s packaging system is unsustainable because it is l
inear, centralised, and waste‑intensive, with most discarded material ending up exported or landfilled.
The company addresses this by creating a circular biomanufacturing platform that transforms agricultural and industrial waste into high‑performance, fully compostable biofoam packaging. Their technology combines biology, digital infrastructure, and predictive modelling to grow materials and enable scalable, decentralised production. Inspired by mycelium (the natural recycler), Ecoroots’ system not only produces packaging but builds circular manufacturing loops. These include closed loops, where companies turn their own waste into packaging, and distribution loops, where waste from one industry can supply another. Overall, Ecoroots aims to create local, interconnected, circular ecosystems that reduce waste and emissions while replacing fossil‑derived packaging.
Shane Hannan from Mesh Bioplastics outlined the challenges to scaling circularity on existing packaging
production equipment and the production barriers holding back the widespread adoption of bioplastics. His company’s AI tool ‘VariControl’ can help increase recycled content safely, reduce scrap and process efficiency and therefore help with PPWR and ESG reporting.
Daniel Whelan, IMR CE Metrics & Assessment Technologist chaired session 2 ‘Aryzta Circular Initiatives’.
Fergus O’Sullivan from Aryzta spoke about their food waste management prioritising donation (e.g., to FoodCloud), pig feed, and energy recovery, with no waste going to landfill. Lifecycle analysis guided efforts to reduce the carbon footprint of bread production, resulting in an innovative bread recycling machine being introduced. It allows bread rejected for minor quality issues (such as size, weight, shape, or cuts) to be reprocessed back into production rather than diverted to pig feed. The new system further cuts waste by up to 2%. Benefits include waste reduction, alignment with sustainability goals, and an estimated 480‑tonne reduction in carbon footprint per year.
On the packaging front, Jarek Gradowski and the team at Aryzta have also implemented a project designed to eliminate plastic liners from corrugated boxes used in bakery production. Driven by the goal of reducing unnecessary packaging while maintaining performance and product quality, the project kicked off in 2017. The team collaborated with a supportive paper supplier to develop a liner‑free, food‑safe corrugated material and conducted extensive lab, production, distribution, and real‑world stress testing to validate its strength and runability. Quality concerns led to a box redesign, and comprehensive sensory evaluations (including abuse tests and blind tastings) with no negative impact on product quality being identified. Now implemented on all production lines for some customers, the solution has achieved cost neutrality and delivered substantial sustainability benefits, including the removal of 100 tonnes of virgin plastic to date.
The session continued with the group taking a Bakery Tour to see ‘Circularity in Action’.
Valentina Tarasco, IMR CE Metrics & Assessment Lead chaired session 3 ‘Member Engagement, Services & Supports’.
To conclude the meeting the IMR Circular Economy Leads took to the floor to update members on 2026 services and supports. Valentina outlined Member Engagement Opportunities for 2026 and called out a SAVE the Date for our next network meeting to be held on Thursday the 11th of June in Mullingar – 10-2pm.
Paul McCormack Cooney, CE Best Practice Lead introduced our new Circular Economy Explorer.
It is a tool that maps circular economy strategies across the full product value chain from raw material sourcing through design, manufacturing, distribution, use, and end of life. At every stage it tells you what the circular opportunities are, what the enablers and barriers are, and it shows you companies already doing it with access to verified sources throughout.
It is available in eight sector-specific versions covering Food and Drink, Electronics, Built Environment, Textiles, Plastics, Agri-Bio, Pharma and Chemicals, and Transport.
Visit www.explorer.circuleire.ie to check it out. Members can log in for more detailed information.
Karl Crowley, Circular Economy Innovation RD&I Programme Manager introduced our Innovation Sprints.
They help companies scope out circular projects and pilots that can either be self-funded (i.e. low-hanging fruit) or externally funded. By bringing diverse stakeholders together for rapid prototyping and experimentation, businesses can identify strategies to accelerate scalable, validated circular solutions, ensuring that self-funded initiatives are closer to implementation and that externally funded collaborative projects have a solid foundation for applications.
Join us for the Innovation Sprints Kick-off – Today!
Date: Tuesday, 28th April 2026
Time: 2:00 PM – 3:30 PM (Irish Time)
Location: On-line
Email: karl.crowley@imr.ie
No prep needed — just come with one circular innovation idea or challenge you may wish to explore!
Agnese Metitieri, IMR CE Ventures Lead introduced the 2026 Circular Venture Accelerator which launches on the 31st of March. The programme is the first of its kind in Ireland, dedicated to supporting late-stage circular economy ventures to scale. It supports circular economy innovators that have developed and tested services or products who wish to avail of highly specialized circularity mentorship and business acceleration supports including Knowledge Transfer, Applied Peer Led Learning, Industry-Venture Collaboration Opportunities and access to the CIRCULÉIRE Network. Agnese called on network members to consider joining the Industry Member Advisory Group (IMAG) – get in touch with her directly to discuss if interested.
Valentina Rangel Leon, CE Policy Specialist introduced our new Policy Clinics, now included in membership. They fill a gap identified by members who wanted tailored, business‑specific policy support, beyond our core work in monitoring policy, responding to consultations, and representing members in national/EU groups. Policy Clinics are 1:1 sessions to help members:
Understand how specific legislation affects your business
Get research‑based insights (not legal advice)
Receive analysis of opportunities/implications and recommended next steps
Spaces are limited. Members can email Valentina with your question or the legislation you want to explore. If helpful, we’ll arrange a short call to refine the request. We then conduct the research and schedule a one‑hour session, followed by a summary of insights and sources.
Impact, Networking & Access to Presentations
Members then enjoyed lunch and time for further networking!
Thanks to Shareclub for supplying the reusable coffee mugs and for preventing 57.7 kgs of CO2e.
Thanks again to Aryzta for collaborating with us, to all the presenters and attendees, we look forward to working closely with you throughout 2026
The full presentation deck is accessible to members on our knowledge library at the below link:
Get in touch with us at the link below if you would like to become a member.
AIB, Arcology System, Arytza, Carbery Group, CircolELT, Ecoroots, ERP Ireland, ESB, Finline Furniture, FoodCloud, General Paints Group, Green IT, HaPPE Earth, High Performance Building Alliance, IFF Plastics, IQutech, i-Supply, Johnson & Johnson Vision Care, Kinset, Mesh Bioplastics, Panda, Rebox, Repak, Re-turn, Shareclub, WEEE Ireland.
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