On 11 October, the 1st PRecycling review meeting took place in Gjøvik, Norway, hosted by the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU). The partners of the project had a chance to meet and discuss the achievements of the different work packages, guided by the insightful contributions of the Project Officer Ms. Kristina Bole and Review Officer Mrs. Susana Filipe. 

The meeting was opened by the project coordinators from NTUA, represented by Dr. Tanja Kosanovic and Prof. Costas A. Charitidis, who highlighted the highly ambitious objectives and the expected outcomes of the PRecycling project.

The consortium members gave an overview of the results and achievements of the efforts carried out in the first 18 months of the project, starting with Work Package (WP) 1, focused on Waste streams mapping, methods for verifying recycled plastic content requirements, led by AIJU. In the context of the WP, some important deliverables were achieved, such as the inventory of the EoL polymer waste streams from different applications and the review of the best practices for calculating, verifying & reporting of recycled plastic content in products. 

The floor was then given to NTUA, leader of WP 2 on Recovering and converting recyclable materials into recyclates; the partners involved in the work successfully completed the work on some fundamental pillars for the project’s development, such as the waste composition analysis and the sampling methodologies developed for complex waste materials. 

Subsequently, BASF took the lead on the overview of the WP 3 activities focused on Sampling, verification & consistent quality control of recyclates and recycled content. Likewise in this context, the partners were able to deliver quality interim results on the comprehensive multi-modal data set for different sampling strategies of recyclates and the activities of the WP will continue in the upcoming months, in close coordination with all the other work packages. Both presentations of WP4 (Development of a recyclate track and trace methodology, led by Circularise) and of WP 6 (Design for sustainability, circularity and safety, led by Denmark Technical University (DTU)) also displayed great progress, with the first results to be expected by month 36 and 48, respectively.

The overview of WP 7 was then presented by STRATAGEM, leader of the activities on dissemination and communication, which showed great progress in regard to public engagement and development of the exploitation strategy. The summary of the project’s progress was concluded with the presentation of the activities of WP 8, which displayed a smooth cooperation achieved among partners in the first 18 months and a great potential for cooperation in the years to come. 

The 1st review meeting of the project, thanks to the tireless and efficient work carried out by the entire PRecycling consortium as well as the positive feedback gathered from the European Commission, did not only demonstrate the project’s great potential but also the commitment of the partners to strive for the achievement of a fully circular economy in home appliances, toys and textiles sectors.

Visit regularly the PRecycling website and social media channels to stay update on the project’s development.