Increasingly, plastic components are being used in vehicles rather than metal ones, as plastic is lighter. The automotive industry is gradually stepping up the percentage of recycled plastic to reduce its environmental impact.
AIMPLAS, the Plastics Technology Centre, is a non-profit research association active in the plastics industry. It has launched the SURFTOP Project to develop the use of recycled plastic in vehicle parts.
The BUILD-LIMONENE initiative is working on additives and biodegradable materials with a lower carbon footprint that can be used in the construction industry and become viable alternatives to the fossil-based materials currently available.
This new technology will contribute to the recovery of waste by using citrus peels and CO2 emissions.
The RECIMAP project aims to recycle blended cotton and polyester fabric waste, thus contributing to the circular economy in the textile industry.
Recovering this waste will make it possible to obtain recycled polyester and lactic acid, both in high demand on the market. Lactic acid is an essential component for the production of polylactic acid (PLA).
The BRILIAN project is designed to support the adoption of sustainable and cooperative business models in rural areas, enabling a smoother transition to bio-based economies. It plays a fundamental role in revitalising these regions and promoting sustainable economic and social development by transforming primary producers into active players in the supply chain, aligned with the goals outlined in the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), the Green Deal and the European Bioeconomy Strategy.
The MixMatters project aims to optimise the value derived from mixed biological waste. It will introduce a groundbreaking, integrated and adaptable solution for efficiently harnessing the potential of mixed bio-waste.
The ELLIPSE project seeks to optimise the use of two heterogeneous waste streams of which plentiful amounts are generated across Europe: slaughterhouse waste (bellygrass) and paper and pulp sludge. The project will produce cost-efficient polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) for the agricultural and packaging sectors by co-processing these waste streams with other organic ones such as glycerol from the biodiesel industry and sludge from the dairy industry.
CircEUlar is a four-year European Research and Innovation Action that will develop new modelling approaches for analysing circularity from a systems perspective.
The REEPRODUCE project will break new ground by establishing a sustainable and complete European industrial-scale value chain for recycling the rare earth elements in permanent magnets. REEPRODUCE will capitalise on the knowledge generated by previous R&D projects (REE4EU) and tackle all the remaining technical challenges along the value chain. This innovative technique will produce new permanent magnets using environmentally-friendly technologies at a competitive cost and using end-of-life products as a resource.
The ÑCostas project will make it possible to reuse plastic material recovered from the sea and waste from the aquaculture industry to make walkways and platforms for fish farms, port protection products, flotation tubes, and nets and mesh for reinforcement, among other products.
The tExtended European project has come up with an innovative approach to recycling textile waste by developing a knowledge-based masterplan for optimised recycling of discarded textiles. The research combines recycling, waste-valorisation and data technologies to maximise the impact.
Twenty organisations from 10 countries have collaborated to create economically feasible and sustainable solutions for reducing waste in the textiles industry.