CuCilento (which can be understand to mean both "Sew slowly" and "Sew in Cilento", a region in Campania) is an innovative business project designed by Sarah Khoudja as part of the EU's 'Empowering Women in Agrifood' programme led by the Future Food Institute. It is an upcycling workshop which processes agricultural by-products and other materials (boat sails, factory scraps, etc.) classified as waste and turns them into net or fabric bags that can be used for food packaging or shopping.
Skanska is a leading construction and development company that has made sustainability a crucial part of its operations. With the assistance of Cyrkl, it has taken on the challenge of deconstructing the Merkuria building, revolutionising the industry, saving materials and helping charities in the process.
Arany Kapu (in English "golden gate"), a private company in Kunfehértó, Hungary, collects grape processing and winemaking byproducts from all the country's wine regions for valorisation in diverse forms, including distillation.
The Swedish company Re:Lab AB has developed a chemical circular economy solution to convert plastic items used in research laboratories into a syngas comprised of carbon monoxide and hydrogen. These two components are in high demand for the production of chemicals and plastics.
Blue Plastics technology, called CleanBlueTech, is a pioneering, solvent-based, closed-loop washing technology that removes smell, glue, print-ink and organic residues from any plastic flexible film waste.
CleanBlueTech is a game changer as it uses 70% less energy and 100% less water than existing technologies.
IOBAC avoids adhesive and attaches its flooring materials partly by means of magnets. Its Dual-Grip technology affixes flooring using both magnetism and tack. This means that tiles can be taken up and reused, keeping the components in the value chain, or recycled. The technology is manufactured using plant-based VOC-free resins, recycled rubber tyres and additives from scrap iron.
The Hungarian Ministry of Finance has approved a HUF 197.85 million non-refundable grant for Hutoepito, the parent company of KleanLabs, in order to fund research, development and innovation activities under the Upcycling of closed-cell rigid polyurethane foams project, which will run until 31 January 2025.
Tarkett has launched an independently verified (by EPEA), science-based declaration highlighting the health hazards and risks of materials in a particular product. By introducing this Material Health Statement (MHS), Tarkett completes the environmental data provided by the Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) and complements its indicators.
Tarkett has developed a technology at its Dutch Waalwijk carpet production facility enabling the separation of the two principal components of carpet tiles. Its recycling centre creates two streams of materials that can be recycled and transformed into high-quality resources for new products.
