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).
This UNEP report outlines what each stakeholder group can do individually and collectively to reach the shared destination of a circular textile sector.
The DRIVE 0 project - a collaboration of 7 European countries - has developed Circular Homes, a user-centered digital platform to provide information and resources on circular renovation to homeowners, consumers, and professionals. The platform offers comprehensive resources to understand and implement circularity principles in the built environment.
Key features:
providing clear and concise explanations of circularity and circular renovation practices
a circular self-assessment tool and
a collection of DIY projects that homeowners and consumers can undertake to make their homes more circular.
Objectives:
helping people make their homes more circular
offering advice on saving energy, water and materials, and
improving comfort, air quality or consumption habits.
Eco Repair Score NV and VITO have developed the Eco Repair Score® to assess the environmental impact of a specific car repair job. It does this using a single score, with categories from A to E and associated colour coding.
RCA Engineering has come up with modular plants for recycling composite materials. The modular engineering and construction process produces plants that can be assembled quickly and affordably.
Gravity Wave is a social start-up based in Spain. It focuses on working with small-scale fishermen to collect as much as possible of the plastic waste fouling the Mediterranean, from water bottles to a whole load of discarded fishing nets.
The Spanish company Jeanologia is currently spearheading the greatest challenge facing the textile industry: to achieve total dehydration and detoxification in denim industry. With Mission Zero the company is transforming the way jeans are made, from fabric to finish, minimising the use of water and chemicals to a close-to-zero target.
The catalogue, entitled "20 years of ecodesign - Made in Euskadi" and available in both physical and digital formats, is the first in Europe to compile a broad list of product categories from ten industrial sectors, namely the chemical industry, the metal sector, furniture, automotive, food, production and consumption, machinery, transport, electric-electronic, and the construction materials sector. Individual data sheets containing the main characteristics and aspects of each circular product are provided.
The publication illustrates how lifecycle analysis methodologies have been applied to substantially improve the environmental impact of these products and to serve as an example for the European industrial sector.
Even though only 24 % of the new circular solutions developed or demonstrated in the projects are already operational or available on the market, the results of all the projects completed as of this date and validated by the companies have been included.
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.