C-PlaNeT is a consortium of high-profile universities, research institutions and companies located in Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands, Austria, United Kingdom, Switzerland, Denmark and Greece. Europe needs this training network. Bringing plastics into the circular economy is one of the great challenges of our age. C-PlaNeT lays the foundations for a New Plastics Economy through a European Joint Doctoral Programme that trains 15 Early Stage Researchers (ESRs) to become part of a new generation of scientists, engineers and policy makers for the EU’s circular economy, which must include the design, processing, use and reuse of plastics. Each ESR, developing his/her research skills together with a supervisor and co-promoter, represents a piece of the jigsaw, at the same time benefiting from being part of a project team with 14 other ESRs and their supervisors covering other parts of the life cycle, challenging each other in terms of lifecycle thinking and a much more sustainable future for plastics.