Sharing experiences and project developments to boost fruitful synergies within the consortium
 

Precycling project – 12M progress meeting

15 & 16 March 2023

The 17 partners of the PRecycling consortium came together during the 2-day 12 months progress meeting on 15 and 16 March 2023, hosted by Fraunhofer IVV in Freising (Germany).

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The Project Coordinator Prof. Costas Charitidis (NTUA) introduced the main goals of the 12M meeting, briefly presented the achievements for each Work Package, and gave an overview of the timeline for the upcoming year for the preparation of the 18M Review meeting.

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AIJU provided an overview of the positive developments of the different tasks within Work Package 1 in the context of the screening and assessment of the recyclate definition and the development of best practices used for the verification and reporting of recycled plastics content in the products categories falling within the scope of the project. The Work Package leader explained in detail how the waste stream in different regions of Europe can be sorted by content in a common way in compliance with the standardization landscape, the certification schemes, and the overall legislative framework. This includes technical, processing, quality, and safety methods which need to be defined, will be collected and delivered by the partners in several foreseen reports.

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NTUA, as leader of Work Package 2, presented the work carried out in regard to recovering and converting recyclable materials into recyclates. The NTUA representative explained how the sorting plants played a pivotal role for the achievement of the first project developments: the AIJU pilot plant, used for the sorting of waste streams from Spain; the Coolrec industry plant, employed for the sorting of WEE waste (and in the upcoming months, also for the sorting of toy waste in Greece); and the Arcelik industry plant (crashing/shredding system and metal separation). 

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BASF, leader of Work Package 3, provided a detailed overview of the ongoing work on sampling, verification & consistent quality control of recyclates, and recycling content. The work within the Work Package entails the sampling procedures on the industrial scale as well as sampling and sample preparation for laboratory analysis. BASF’s representative underlined that the fundamental starting point of the process consists of the development of a well-defined “model-waste” (ABS, PS, PP, and PE and a brominated flame retardant). Subsequently, the model waste will be extruded by NTUA, milled by BASF, and distributed among all partners involved for analysis to conclude and deliver the best sampling procedure.

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Fraunhofer IVV, host of the review meeting, presented the Institute’s mission and the main focus of its activities, also leading the meeting attendees in person through an engaging guided tour of the facilities, which allowed the partners to have a first-hand overview of procedures for purification and analysis of polymeric materials (some of them addressed in WP2).

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For Work Package 4 on recyclate tracking and trace methodology, CIRCULARISE presented the development of a substance material flow analysis (SFA) which will serve to identify home appliances and toys products/waste containing additives, pigments, fire retardants, and plasticizers. As a plan for future actions, CIRCULARISE outlined that the definition of the objectives and the system applications will be the top priorities in the upcoming months, through a compilation of information from the bibliography and PRecycling case studies.

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The overview of the ongoing work continued with the DTU’s input on Work Package 6 on design for sustainability, circularity and safety. DTU’s input focused on the activities related to providing the risk assessment by combining exposure assessment following OECD-developed harmonized tiered methodology with hazard identification. The first months focused particularly on information gathering, through a tailored questionnaire shared with the partners of the WP2.

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STRATAGEM, leader of Work Package 7 on communication, dissemination, and exploitation activities provided an overview of the activities related to the increase of public engagement in the project’s mission, through the development of a communication strategy and related material, well adapted to the different target groups and messages, as well as the drafting of the educational toolkit (AIJU) and the creation of synergies with other projects.

The overview of the work packages was concluded by NTUA’s representatives, who gave a comprehensive update of the latest developments in regard to project management (WP8).

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The 2-day meeting was a fundamental opportunity for the PRecycling partners to share experiences and project developments and boost the essential synergies among different work packages.

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Working cooperatively as a united team is a fundamental element for the achievement of a successful result and bringing to life precious innovation for the achievement of a higher level of sustainability within the home appliances, toys and textile sectors.

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If you wish to stay up to date on the PRecycling project’s developments, visit regularly our website or contact us.