Leiria, 20 May 2023 (Jornal de Leiria) – Jornal de Leiria ran a feature on the RN21 Integrated Project – Innovation in the Natural Resin Value Chain to Strengthen the National Bioeconomy, the consortium of 37 entities from across Portugal that sets out to modernise and add value to the Natural Resin sector, coordinated by CoLAB ForestWISE.
A sector with a strong presence in the Leiria region
The article highlights the participation of several regional entities in the consortium: Resipinus – Association of Resin Distillers and Tappers, based in Leiria, the Leiria Region Intermunicipal Community, the Polytechnic of Leiria and the companies Dreamplas, from Marinha Grande, and Vieirifabril, from Pombal.
According to the newspaper, the project has around 30 million euros from the Recovery and Resilience Plan (PRR) to strengthen the national Natural Resin sector, with implementation scheduled until December 2025.
Recovering a production that was once far higher
The context explains the project’s ambition: national resin production currently stands at around seven thousand tonnes, a far cry from the roughly 100 thousand tonnes recorded in the 1970s and 1980s.
More efficient resin extraction
Interviewed by the newspaper, Marco Ribeiro, president of Resipinus, explains that the project is organised into three pillars. The first focuses on resin extraction and includes studies to increase productivity, the mechanisation of some tasks and the adoption of more efficient collection systems – one of the consortium’s central goals.
Originally published in Jornal de Leiria.