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On September 20, Judith Kessens from TNO visited the Processes4Planet Projects Forum (2023)

A.SPIRE projects forum. There were many interesting projects presented, ranging from ‘circular textiles’ to ‘heat pumps for industrial drying.’ During the poster session, Judith presented the roll-up banner and printed a new PLAST2BECLEANED poster- She networked with various individuals, including EC officers and partners from other projects.” The overall aim of PLAST2bCLEANED is to develop a human and environmentally safe recycling process for WEEE plastics in a technically feasible and economically viable manner, and the project’s impacts.

The latest General Assembly of PLAST2bCLEANED, held at the renowned GAIKER research centre in Bilbao, marked a significant step forward in achieving the project’s goals.

PLAST2bCLEANED’s primary mission is to revolutionize the recycling of WEEE plastics. This gathering brought together consortium partners, providing a platform to present their updated work packages and share their latest advancements in research and technology, they also enjoyed a tour of GAIKER located in the Technological Park of Bizkaia and witnessed the prototype.

On June 29, PLAST2bCLEANED attended the European Meeting on Fire Retardant Polymeric Materials (FRPM23) to discuss sustainability in Flame Retardant Materials (FRs in European Green Deal), New Developments in Flame Retardants (chemistry, application, synergism), and much more, held in Zurich, Switzerland.

During the conference, Lein Tange, Sustainability Director at ICL Group gave a presentation entitled Challenges and opportunities for plastic containing Flame Retardants using innovative technologies including the performance of PLAST2bCLEANED technologies.

On June 14, the ICL group (leader in bromine recovery), visited the facilities of Coolrec, a leading recycling company, to discuss the progress and prospects of the PLAST2bCLEANED project.

The PLAST2bCLEANED project aims to address a human and environmentally safe recycling process for Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) plastics in a technically feasible and economically viable manner.

During the visit, the teams held discussions and exchanged valuable knowledge and experience. The focus of the discussions was the project’s progress in transforming contaminated Electrical and Electronic Equipment waste (WEEE) into high-quality recycled materials suitable for various applications.

On the 1^st  of June, an online webinar took place on Boosting Plastics Recycling organized by the EU projects PRIMUS and CREATOR.

The online webinar consisted of legacy flame retardants in recycled plastics, how they end up in recycled plastics, and the associated risks, regulations, standards, and changes in recent years, as well as testing, analysis, and best practices for manufacturers and recyclers.

The event was attended by experts in the field, including partners that are part of the PLAST2BCLENAED project consortium, such as Lein Tange, Sustainability Director of ICL group, and Tom Caris, Business Development Manager of Coolrec. Part of the PLAST2bCLEANED project process is based on the Separation of additives to concentrate bromine flame retardants and antimony trioxide fractions for recycling and reduced risk of retaining hazardous substances in recycled materials.

On May 15, the ICL group (leader in bromine recovery) visited TNO’s facilities to conduct a review meeting on the PLAST2bCLEANED project and the progress that has been made along the way.

One of the three closing loops created in PLAST2bCLEANED, the bromine, was one of the primary topics covered at the meeting. In addition, ICL provides advice on the usage of brominated flame retardants and the technology to ultimately recover the bromine throughout the project, and TNO is in charge of coordinating these measures.

On May 4, PLAS2bCLEANED attended the SETAC Europe 33^rd Annual Meeting, during which multiple topics of environmental analysis and problem solving were discussed in Dublin (Ireland).

During the conference, Dr. Ana Salles from Fraunhofer ICT, presented a poster entitled Human toxicity assessment during the recycling process in the PLAST2bCLEANED project.

If you did not have the opportunity to attend the event, you can consult the content of Ana’s poster here.

On May 11, at the Plastics Recycling Show Europe in Amsterdam, Renewi’s subsidiary Coolrec and the largest manufacturer of home appliances in the world, Electrolux, both participants in the plast2bcleaned project, won first prize for the introduction of a refrigerator whose interior is made from 70% recycled plastics from old refrigerators.

The Plastics Recycling Awards Europe (PRSE) commemorate, and honor accomplishments made across the board in the European plastic recycling sector. In addition, the awards provide information on recent advances, use of recyclable materials, inventive product design and production.

On May 10and 11, PLAST2bCLEANED attended The Plastics Recycling Show Europe 2023 (PRSE), a conference, exhibition, and awards ceremony for recycling plastics in continental Europe,  hosted at the RAI Amsterdam Convention Centre.

During the conference, Ana Rita Neiva, Plastics Recycling Engineer at Coolrec, responsible for the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment recycling within the project, participated in the PRSE exhibition to highlight its technologies and advancements, including PLAST2bCLEANAED, at a booth in this show.

On April 28, a new online session of “Technological pills” organised by Aclima, the Basque Environment Cluster, in conjunction with BRTA, the Basque Research & Technology Alliance was held and hosted by Sixto Arnaiz, Head of the Recycling and Circular Economy Area at GAIKER.

The cycle of “Technology Pills 2023” is being put on to encourage creativity through quick sessions. The talk primarily focused on the “New Developments in the Automatic Identification and Separation of Waste.” discussed the significant contributions of technology in waste management, and the latest developments in the field of automatic waste identification and separation.

Moreover, the season also focused on GAIKER’s role in the PLAST2bCLEANED project, where the center plays a key role through the application of state-of-the-art technologies like RAMAN spectroscopy, which facilitates techniques for the recycling of black polymers, the most difficult ones to deal with nowadays.

Technology Pills 2023 edition gathered, experts from the industry who came together to share their knowledge and insights on various topics, especially focused in the filed of automatic waste identification and separation.