Currently, the bioplastics industry is restricted by the high cost of PHA and PHB bioplastics, despite the global capacity for their production outstripping commonly-used hydrocarbon-based thermoplastics and alternative bioplastic solutions; contemporary bioplastics that can compete with hydrocarbon thermoplastics are derived from crops (primarily using starch compounds), creating a conflict between using crops for food or as an industrial raw material, and increasing the cost of food. Furthermore, wastewater presents itself as a constant burden for industry, particularly wastewater containing nutrients that can potentially lead to a high biological oxygen demand (BOD) which damages aquatic ecosystems. The Eggplant is an innovative two-phase water treatment procedure that filters industrial wastewater and applies a three-stage post-filtration process. Through this process, each Eggplant uses wastewater as a raw material for the production of bioplastics using a commercial bacterial culture. Critically, the water at the end of the process is purified and safe to be used as drinking water or for release into watercourses. The primary value of Eggplant is the reduction of waste from agri-food industrial wastewater from twofold to zero – filtration removes the majority of pollutants and fermentation removes organic contaminants. The resulting concentrate is then processed into PHA and PHB bioplastics. Moreover, an Eggplant, through the use of concentrated substrate can generate 3-4 times as much bioplastic from an equivalent volume of wastewater.

AFTERLIFE proposes a flexible, cost- and resource-efficient process framed in the zero-waste and circular economy approach for the recovery and valorisation of the relevant fractions from wastewater. The first step of such process is an initial step consisting of a cascade of membrane filtration units for the separation of the totally of solids in wastewater. Then, the concentrates recovered in each unit will be treated to obtain high-pure extracts and metabolites or, alternatively, to be converted into value-added biopolymers (polyhydroxyalkanoates). Moreover, the outflow of the process is an ultra-pure water stream that can be directly reused. The outcomes of the project will be focused on: - Demonstration of an integrated pilot using real wastewater from three water intensive food processing industries (fruit processing, cheese and sweets manufacturing) - Demonstration of the applicability of the recovered compounds and the value added bioproducts in manufacturing environments The design and optimisation of the AFTERLIFE process following a holistic approach will contribute to improve performance and reduce the costs associated to wastewater treatment by maximising the value recovery.