Newsletter 7

November 24, 2021 by Jose Uribe

image 1 Ecobulk pgme

The Ecobulk consortium met for the last time in its official project capacity on the 19th of November. The partners huddled aound their warm monitors in the shortening days of autumn for one last update on the work done, the successes achieved and the plans for the future. In this newsletter we will tell you more about the unsung heros of the circular economy who provide the tools, processes and enabling technologies for circular products to even be possible. 

  1. Stakeholder Platform
  2. Business Models
  3. Events
  4. Publications
  5. Thanks

The Ecobulk Final Conference will take place on the 26th of November online. Read the program and join us to learn more about the project results, and ask your own questions to the experts. 

Register Now

Stakeholder Platform

The circular economy redirects waste streams to resources. But for others to make use of those new resources is a complicated coordination and information challenge – which requires  deep connectivity and data integration. Therefore, you could say that digital technologies provide the basis for the development of circular business models.

When a product is nearing the end of its useful life, in a traditional model it is quite simple: the end-user disposes of the product and is not concerned with making choices about the fate of the product. One step beyond this, we have a recycling model where the user may need to make a choice on the means disposal according to some simple material separation rules. This can already be quite a burden. With circularity, where we strive to make recycling a last resort, there are many more choices and the decisions that must be made are therefore much more complex. That is why a stakeholder platform has been created that can help in making those decisions, but also to collect the information necessary to make the optimal decisions. 

Read all about the Ecobulk Stakeholder Platform.

Business Models

One of the key issues when dealing with any change, in particular when challenging a well-established linear economy model, is to demonstrate that it is not only possible, but profitable as well. It is true that in most cases the effort to collect, treat, recycle and remanufacture does not seem economically viable, but that is where different and more creative business models can be applied. In this article we will discuss the business models being considered for the Ecobulk demonstrators.

The business cases are also based on the design, or sometimes perhaps the other way around. Both the design and the business model in the end must fit into each other. Above you will see the value hill, which represents how both the design and business model must create avenues to maintain value as high as possible for as long as possible. True circularity is king of the hill.

Read more about the business models for the demonstrators.

Events

The project is now ending, so the only event left in our calendar is the final event. Find out more about that here. Read on for some of the events that have taken place in this last part of the project.

ECOBULK was at the PRSE2021 show in Amsterdam at the end of last week on the 4th and 5th of November, in full project presentation mode. A stand, together with sister SPIRE project MultiCycle, was set up promoting the latest developments and getting interest from the industry. On display were production samples from the Ecobulk automotive sector partners that have been testing different strategies to increase circularity for internal car parts. Also, Jelle Joustra, from TUDelft was on hand for a presentation on the design aspects of the demonstrators.

Read more

Project partner KNEIA organised a project cluster workshop together with several other EU projects including DECOAT, Plasticircle, and FIBERUSE. The webinar, titled Walk the Talk, was an opportunity not just to present some of the interesting work done by these projects, but hopefully also to exchange knowledge and inspire the different consortiums to learn from each other.

If you missed it, the presentations were recorded and are available to view here.

During the ISWA World Congress, a special session was organised to bring together different projects tackling circularity for plastics. This innovation showcase brought together the projects Decoat, MultiCycle, Alma and of course Ecobulk. After the project presentations, there were questions and discussion together with the moderator of the session, Arne Ragossnig, ISWA Vice President. Ecobulk was represented by Markku Vilkki, who talked about the demonstrators and with a focus on his own work with circular materials from GFRP waste.

His presentation can be seen here.

Recent Publications

TUDelft, after working on the design strategies redux which we announced earlier, then went on to continue their quest to support other product designers and manufacturers in designing for better composite circularity. The guide has been made into a useful tool and quick reference on the different strategies available to increase circularity. 

The reader is quickly introduced tot he background and the value hill model is useful to think about when coming up with concepts. It then lists, handily explains and illustrates the 26 design aspects using examples from Ecobulk and beyond. It finishes with a brief presentation of tools and methods that were developed or used to support circular design.

It will be available online as an open source resource, and limited printed copies will be distributed to the consortium as part of the project legacy.

Oakdene Hollins has produced a special report, “Driving change: A circular economy for automotive plastic” which presents their research into the market aspects of developing a circular economy for plastic in the automotive sector and offers some recommendations. 

The report is based on their work as part of Ecobulk, and also incorporates some of the (public) results from work on the project from Bellver, AIMPLAS and Tomra.

The analysis provides an in-depth review of vehicle plastic use and plastic waste, and a comprehensive assessment of end markets for automotive plastic recyclates. It focuses on the three major polymers used in vehicles: Polypropylene (PP), Polyurethane (PU), and Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC).

Find and read the report here.

Thank you

With the finishing of the project this month, this will be the last Ecobulk newsletter. It will of course not be the last you hear form Ecobulk, at least if you come to our Final Conference. But in any case, the legacy of the project will live on with the knowldege, tools and demonstrations it has produced.

We would like to offer our most sincere gratitude for your attention and support, most of all of course our thanks to EUH2020 platform that has kindly funded this amazing project.

The Ecobulk Final Conference will take place on the 26th of November online. Read the program and join us to learn more about the project results, and ask your own questions to the experts. 

Register Now

The Ecobulk Stakeholder Platform

by Jose Uribe

The circular economy redirects waste streams to resources. But for others to make use of those new resources is a complicated coordination and information challenge – which requires  deep connectivity and data integration. Therefore, you could say that digital technologies provide the basis for the development of circular business models. 

Circular entrepreneurs need to have information about their products and their users. In a circular business model, quality of the service and customer satisfaction is determined not only by the quality of the physical product, but perhaps even more so by the quality of the digital service, e.g. the app through which the user can buy the product, share his feedback or see where the product can be found. The digital part of the business determines feasibility, usability and customer (or rather user) satisfaction.

If we want to strengthen and scale up the circular economy, there is a need to further integrate digital technologies like the Internet of Things, big data and artificial intelligence into existing circular business approaches to provide such services and information. More generally, digital transformation offers opportunities to the European industry for building competitive and innovative business models based on circular economy principles.

Ecobulk recognises this and that is why an entire work package was dedicated to developing the tools and systems that would be necessary for the circular flow of materials to happen. 

Circularity and Complexity

When a product is nearing the end of its useful life, in a traditional model it is quite simple: the end-user disposes of the product and is not concerned with making choices about the fate of the product. One step beyond this, we have a recycling model where the user may need to make a choice on the means disposal according to some simple material separation rules. This can already be quite a burden. With circularity, where we strive to make recycling a last resort, there are many more choices and the decisions that must be made are therefore much more complex. That is why a stakeholder platform has been created that can help in making those decisions, but also to collect the information necessary to make the optimal decisions. 

Decision Support System 

The Decision Support System (DSS) is the system that combines the information and presents the end-user with the most likely options for their end-of-life products or materials. It considers four types of circular economy strategies: repairing, refurbishing, reuse and disposal. The system can  give the users aggregated information about each alternative, helping in the decision process by  calculating the economic costs and evaluating the environmental impacts of each of the possibilities. Since the user can choose from several criteria to include in the evaluation of the scenarios, finding the optimal result  requires a multi-objective optimization algorithm based on a depth first search approach. 

Repair Scenario:
Several alternative repair scenarios can be defined, which consist of tasks performed on the material, resulting in a change of value based on the final achieved condition. The system takes into account work at different locations, and can include different impact factors and revenues.

Refurbishing Scenario:
Similar to repair, it consists of actions to be performed on the product.  Additionally, a revenue can be defined to be considered during the evaluation. The main difference is refurbishment will typically upgrade or improve a function rather than restore one like in the repair scenario.

Reuse Scenario:
In this case, the user can select the new location of use and the revenue from the product. The evaluation of this scenario is made using only the impacts of the reverse logistics since no other task is being performed.

Disposal Scenario:
This case is similar to the previous one, with the exception that specific impacts of the product’s disposal are taken into consideration based on the disposal location (impacts stored in the database per disposal location).

After processing, the DSS will present a report which lists the impacts and costs, per location where appropriate, so that the user can make a more transparent decision. The system is also capable of providing the optimal path (from those available) for the product taking into account the selected criteria. 

To get an idea of what this looks like, watch the video.

Quality Assurance System

The flow of products and materials from different locations increases the uncertainty of the quality and condition of those same products and materials. This is one of the critical challenges in the way of wider re-usability of materials and components at a higher level of value, as their structural and chemical properties are not as predictable and it becomes difficult to be sure that their performance is and will remain up to the level required. This is where a Quality Assurance System comes in.

The system can assess materials using a number of rules, each which consists of a number of tests that set the limits on particular properties. While there are a number of rules already defined, that are based on structural and safety standards, users can add their own according to their own needs. Even better, artificial intelligence techniques have been integrated that can infer rules from large sets of test data. This makes the system well suited and adaptable for different industries, as in the case of Ecobulk where it had to support the automotive, furniture and construction sectors.

Assessments can be done at different levels, from materials to products. Different batches of the same material can be compared to make sure they comply with the manufacturing requirements. But it can also be used the other way around, and filter the materials that would be suitable to use for a particular application by checking which materials pass all the necessary tests. This of course works together with the Materials database, which is discussed below.

Watch the video to see further details on how the QAS works.

Database - Materials Information

Both the DSS and the QAS depend on a database to get all of the information they need to process. This information comes from the Granta Materials Information database which houses all of the information on materials and products applicable at all lifecycle stages such as manufacturing, use, repair and recycling stages.

For the design and production stage, the database brings together information on different waste and raw materials, specific properties of material batches, the processes involved in production and any relevant test and quality data necesssary for the most appropriate choices to be made on which materials to use. 

On the other side the database also keeps information on the components and products made from the materials, connecting this information to the end users and stakeholders so that the product can be tracked and information collected about its condition throughout its useful life and further lifecycle stages. By scanning the QR code of a product in the the stakeholder platform, end-users and other actors can access the information and respond to survey questions about the product condition which is stored in the database and can then be used by the DSS to choose the best course of action at end-of-life or by the QAS to determine the quality and usability of the products, components or materials at the next lifecycle stage.

So how does this database help in achieving circularity and better sustainability? From their own research, Granta has established that 80% of the LCC is determined already at the concept research stage of the product design process. Making the right choices at this stage is therefore critical to the end result. The database offers the designers all of the information they need to make sustainable as well as economically responsible choices for their projects.

Interested to learn more? Register for the Final Conference!

The Ecobulk Final Conference will take place on the 26th of November online. Read the program and join us to learn more about the project results, and ask your own questions to the experts. 

Register Now

Business Models and Demonstrations

November 22, 2021 by Jose Uribe

One of the key issues when dealing with any change, in particular when challenging a well-established linear economy model, is to demonstrate that it is not only possible, but profitable as well. It is true that in most cases the effort to collect, treat, recycle and remanufacture does not seem economically viable, but that is where different and more creative business models can be applied. In this article we will discuss the business models being considered for the Ecobulk demonstrators.

The business cases are also based on the design, or sometimes perhaps the other way around. Both the design and the business model in the end must fit into each other. Above you will see the value hill, which represents how both the design and business model must create avenues to maintain value as high as possible for as long as possible. True circularity is king of the hill. For each demonstrator we will show their value hill, and discuss the implications for the business models.

  1. Autmotive
  2. Furniture
  3. Construction

The Ecobulk Final Conference will take place on the 26th of November online. Read the program and join us to learn more about the project results, and ask your own questions to the experts. 

Register Now

Automotive

What is the case for the automotive sector? High levels of plastic waste (including composites) from the automotive sector – between 0.9 and 1.2 million tonnes of ELV each year – ends up in the automotive shredded residue (ASR) and disposed of in landfill or incinerated. And this is likely to increase dramatically as there is a continuing pressure to make vehicles lighter to save fuel consumption – a 10% reduction in weight can save 7-8% in fuel. But also electric vehicles can get longer ranges and smaller batteries in that case.

According to research by Oakdene Hollins, nearly 2/3 of new vehicle models are being sold to fleet management organisations. This has to do with the popularity of lease constructions, but also the rise of the sharing economy vehicle as a service models. Traditional car lease models are not focused on sustainability – in fact almost the opposite. Lease fleet managers will hold on to cars only for as long as they need little to no maintenance. They are then sold off, and what happens after that is not their business. Another interesting fact is that 6.1 million vehicles were scrapped in 2018. Average lifespan of a vehicle is now around 13 years. However, the chassis and other components inside the car can last at least up to 20 years. This apparent discrepancy is something that MicroCab expects to be able to exploit with their own take on sustainable lease models. As explained before, leasing models at the moment are short term and functionally oriented, and necessarily aimed at lifetime extension of the vehicle. This is where the MicroCab Vianova hydrogen vehicle comes in – and just like the name suggests, it proposes a ‘new way’ of doing things.

With clever modular design, combined with a well planned and regular schedule for maintenance, and repair, Microcab thinks it is quite possible to keep a fleet of cars on the road for at least 20 years. Now throw in some refurbishment options to keep the components not only working, but modern and attractive, and you have a nice recipe for retaining total vehicle value. Of course, all of this effort also has a cost – but even with this factored in, the running accumulated costs of the hydrogen car lease model vs an internal combustion vehicle compare quite favourably in the long run. Calculations show a significant savings against battery powered vehicles beyond a 10 year term. This is the time a car would typically be replaced, and where Microcab would instead do some more maintenance. Against an ICE model, the lower running costs are not low enough to offset the initial higher price, though this initial cost might decrease a lot with increasing scale of production and technology adoption in the market.

Microcab has been encouraged by these results, and has been very actively seeking further commercial and development opportunities. They have seen great interest for their technology as well as for the future of hydrogen vehicles in general. In the meantime, they are planning to expand their use of the PP-Jute material to other parts of the car, maintaining the ‘circular’ chic look.

Furniture

The furniture industry in Europe has so far shown little progress in recycling. Only about 10% of an estimated 7.6 – 10.8 million tonnes of furniture waste generated each year is currently behind recycled. Of course this is based on general categories of materials, but at Ecobulk we focused on particle board. This is because particle board furniture in general has a short life, relative to solid wood, and cannot be easily repaired or refurbished. This means large amounts of waste being generated to replace furniture pieces with mostly only cosmetic damages.

Some of the efforts went into the material itself, trying to increase the circularity by increasing the limits of using recycled particle board in manufacturing. Normally the limit is 15% due to the concentration of formaldehyde from the binder material. With the new binder materials developed in Ecobulk, this had been increased to 50% while still maintaining high structural properties and low formaldehyde emissions.

The other efforts went into the design of the furniture itself, to make the product more circular at the higher end of the value hill. The re-configurability for example extends the lifecycle by creating other furniture units once another one is no longer needed, eg a bed turns into shelving unit, etc. At one step lower, the furniture has been designed to be easily taken apart and put together again which facilitates exchanging damaged parts. This extends the useful lifetime of the product as well as maintains a higher value level. Even better, the damaged part can then be sent for remanufacturing into new particle board units.

Of course, these advantages are only evident if there is a system in place to make sure that the re-configuration and service takes place. The current systems for the collection of end-of-life furniture are mainly focused on landfilling and energy recovery, so they are not appropriate for circular purposes. In this case, we are left looking for a producer organised system, which would seem to make most sense in an institutional lease model. This would be where a large institution could outsource its furniture needs to a furniture service supplier. From the below modelling, we can see that the business case can make sense, but only with a longer term contract as breakeven is only reached after year 3.

In this case, universities where polled on the possibilities of using such a construction for student housing. Most of them found it interesting, but there were some problems. To start off with, they did not consider themselves likely to enter a long term lease contract, but also noted that student housing furniture can be quite old and the quality demands of students are not that high in that regard. In reality, a breakeven point after 3 years is also quite problematic for SMEs, so the idea was converted to a Sale and Service model.

This model is more attractive to SMEs and institutions in general, as the longer-term service contracts are more appealing to universities and the SMEs have a positive cash flow from the beginning. This would still offer the flexibility of upgrading room suites utilising the modular design of the ECOBULK furniture, while limiting the financial exposure of the furniture suppliers.

Oakdene Hollins sees good potential for this Sales and Service model growing in general. The renting economy is a small but growing trend in some other markets (e.g. clothes), and according ot surveys more than 70% of millennials  and Gen Z are willing to take part in the sharing economy. In fact,  12.6% said they would rent home furnishings. Specifically for the universities market there are several interesting developments.  For example there is significant growth in the global providers of purpose-built student accommodation which now account for 40% of all investment into student accommodation. From a social perspective, the growth of the middle class globally has led to an increase of 23% over the last 5 years of students studying outside their home country, 1.6 million students in 2016. These two factors combined mean that there is growth in the demand and well as the right type of suppliers for this business model to expand.

Construction

Wind energy is popular at the moment, with new and larger wind parks being created to capitalise on the promise of green energy. But wind turbines also have limited lifespan. Around 43 million tons of blade waste is expected to be generated worldwide by 2050 as wind energy parks decommission older equipment, out of which China accounts for 40 percent, Europe 25, the United States 16 and the rest of the world 19 percent. Considering that the main options available now for dealing with wind turbine waste are landfilling and incineration, the promise of green wind energy certainly seems to have a big sustainability blind spot.

The construction demonstrator is a circular business model through its conversion of this currently unusable waste stream into useable, commercial applications in the construction and outdoor furniture sectors. While the initial step is a downcycle of the composite GFRPs, from then on there is a theoretically endless closed loop system as the materials can be easily re-manufactured through only the addition of a small amount of virgin material. While in the project we have mostly dealt with the specific case of the wind turbine blade waste based material, the same process works with other composite wastes including industrial manufacturing waste.

The patented process developed by Conenor is flexible in its end product as well its source material. The extrusion profiles successfully produced so far include hollow ones as well as filled ones, with a whole range of sizes and shapes. Through the latest work done with ecobulk partner Aimplas, we have also learned that it is possible to create pellets of some of these materials that can be used for injection moulding. This gives yet another dimension to the possibilities for using these materials.

Initial projections of the material costs are quite encouraging. The prices are in the same range and in some cases competitively so with other similar competing products in the marketplace. These projections do not take into account economies of scale, which could significantly lower production costs as well. The cost comparison with the wood boards also does not take into account the higher maintenance costs of the wood and its lower durability in comparison with the Ecobulk materials which are naturally weatherproof and can have their colour injected during production time.

So what is the next step? At the moment many avenues are being explored on how this technology can be applied. Apart from the wind industry, there is the boating industry that also has a growing problem with waste GFRP materials from end-of-life boats. 

Questions?

If you have any questions about this, or any of the other busines cases above, you can join us for our online final conference, or contact us through the form below.

The Ecobulk Final Conference will take place on the 26th of November online. Read the program and join us to learn more about the project results, and ask your own questions to the experts. 

Register Now

Ecobulk At PRSE2021

November 11, 2021 by Jose Uribe

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ISWA was at the PRSE2021 show in Amsterdam at the end of last week on the 4th and 5th of November, in full project presentation mode. Ecobulk was on display, promoting the latest developments and getting interest from the industry.

Ecobulk, now in its last month, brough over the author of the “Circular Design Guide” book that the project produced based on the experiences of our partners in redesigning composite products in the automotive, furniture and construction sector to integrate them into a circular lifecycle. As we have said before, we believe this starts with design. In the end, design needs to integrate all of the different aspects of the lifecycle into a coherent product. As the Design Work Package leader Ruud Balkenende likes to say, “a design that does not take into account the end-of-life is not complete“.

On display were also production samples from the Ecobulk automotive sector partners that have been testing different strategies to increase circularity for internal car parts, in this case from the central console. The bioplastics and natural fibre composites tested by partner CRF did well in all the tests except for the UV exposure. As our partner explains, the Fiat-Chrysler marriage means testing components with the exacting American standards which in this case includes withstanding the Arizona desert sun without discoloration. Visitors to the exhibition were still intrigued by the potential applications in less demanding contexts. The use of natural fibres was particularly well received by visitors from countries that are rich in these type resources and do not have easy access to the more traditional glass and carbon options.

There was also plenty of attention to the use of GFRPs from wind turbines in construction materials. These thermoset materials can be crushed and used as structural filler in thermoplastic extrusion profiles that are weatherproof and can therefore be used in light outdoor constructions like sheds and benches. By injecting the color during production, no maintenance is needed until end-of-life, when the material can be re-crushed and remanufactured into the same quality material with only a little additional virgin plastic. In fact, towards the end of the show we ran out of brochures for this particular application. If you are one of the ones that missed out, or just want to know more, download is available here.

For those that missed it the exhibition, and/or are curious about our project, the Ecobulk Final Conference will be held online on the 26th of November. There, we will present all of the prototypes as well as the circular supporting technologies we haev developed during the project to demonstrate that circularity for composites is not only possible, but realistic and attractive. 

ECOBULK Final Event

November 8, 2021 by Jose Uribe

26 November - 9:00 AM CET

“ECOBULK: Demonstrating Circularity for Bulky Composite Products in Automotive, Furniture & Construction Sectors”. 

The ECOBULK project will be making the case that circularity for composites is not only possible but can also be appealing and profitable. Realized production prototypes in the automotive, furniture and construction industry will be presented along with the enabling technologies that allow the circular lifecycle to take place. This includes the following developments:

  • New materials,
  • Circular Design Guidelines,
  • Business models,
  • Decision support system,
  • Quality assurance,
  • Other supporting technologies and processes.

Join us for the project results conference, register now and help us celebrate our achievements, share our lessons learnt and explore the way forward.

First part:  slides

Second part: slides 

ECOBULK Demonstrating circularity for composites in automotive, furniture and construction Part 1

Session 1:  Introduction,  Circular Design, Prototypes & Demonstrations

ECOBULK Demonstrating circularity for composites in automotive, furniture and construction Part 2

 Session 2: Business Models, Materials, Enabling Technologies, Collection & Recovery, LCA Thinking, Discussion on Future and Legacy

Full program available here.

Newsletter 6

October 25, 2021 by Jose Uribe

As the end of the project draws near, it is time to give you a quick update on the latest developments of the project. The demonstrators have been fully developed and tested, and despite the pandemic most of them have also been deployed to their demonstration and use locations. Each partner has contributed to the success of the Ecobulk circular design for composites material mission. Most visible are those building and deploying the new circular prototypes, but there are also a lot of less visible contributions to the enabling technologies, materials and information necessary to re-design products that fit in a circular chain. 

In this newsletter:

1. Prototypes Update
2. Design Circular Guidelines Redux
3. The road to standardisation
4. Coming Up
5. Past Events

Prototypes Update

ECOBULK is demonstrating that re-using, refurbishing, and recycling composite products is possible, profitable, and sustainable. The best way to do this is to lead by example, and so composite products were re-designed in the furniture, automotive and building sectors; please read on below to find the latest news and state of their development.

Automotive

Our partners Maier, CRF and Microcab have been developing new prototype interior car parts that incorporate circular design aspects. While they have all chosen to work on central console components, they have taken slightly different paths and approaches.

Maier chose to increase the recycled material content by creating a dual layer construction that allows a thin layer of aesthetic virgin plastic material to be used on top of a bulky recycled material that supplies the structural properties. The parts have been produced and tested to see if they meet the stringent requirements and standards in the automotive industry, with some promising results. The components are on show at the Maier Technology Centre (Gernika-Spain) facilities and discussions with OEMs are ongoing on how the Ecobulk work could influence other products.

CRF originally identified a possible 10% savings from using recycled materials, but their lower material properties would require a redesign of the moulds to compensate with increased thickness. This change would make it only viable on new products, and it could not be used in existing ones. Instead, CRF chose to test the use of bio-based plastics in its re-design of components, using materials supplied by Tecnaro and Coventive. Both materials have performed well so far in testing.

Microcab have focused on parts for their Vianova hydrogen vehicle. They have created a modular ‘switchpack’ which they envision using within a lease model that will have a controlled schedule of parts maintenance and refurbishment that will keep the vehicle running for 20 years. The switchpack utilises long fibre composites from Coventive, and Microcab have also implemented other dashboard highlights with materials from Tecnaro. 

Furniture

Moretti chose to develop a modular furniture system, focusing on the fact that this would allow a longer lifespan as the user reconfigures or replaces damaged parts as necessary. To do this they have been through several iterations of design and testing. Through this process they have chosen a new metal fastener to connect the modules and parts that offers a simple and solid construction while keeping assembly and dis-assembly relatively easy. They have also updated their upholstery to avoid using adhesives or Velcro the like previous  version – they now have a sleeve design that just slides into place. The seat panels are mounted using a screw that goes through a slot perforated on the particle board for fixing.

The particle board being used for the furniture is produced in cooperation with KEAS and utilizes innovative eco-binder formulations developed by partners Akzo and Cranfield. The particle boards can be made with 100% waste content, and up to 50% particleboard waste while still maintaining good material properties and very low formaldehyde emmissions. A non-formaldehyde based binder developed by Cranfield has also been tested and has shown similar promising results.

Interesting results were also obtained from research into user acceptance and preferences with regards to recycled materials. A test was conducted where 3 sofas of varying design were fitted with regular  padding materials on the left and recycled padding on the right. Respondents were separated into 2 groups – one that was informed of the recyceld materials and one that was not. While both groups reported the recycled side as less comfortable, the one that knew it was recycled reported it as significantly less uncomfortable than the group that did not. This implies that users may have an increased tolerance for recycled materials whose properties do not match virgin materials.

Construction

For the construction sector, the demonstrators for the outdoor shelters and benches have been built. This includes the shelters for Warwick University, Coventry and the ones for Lipor.

Some adjustments had to be made to the original designs to accomodate the new materials. The ongoing pandemic issues have limited the exposure of users to the shelters, so results on user perceptions are still pending. 

FCBA conducted tests on chairs and benches made from the GFRP waste materials. In general they performed well, though again some adjustments to the original design were necessary to reinforce the longer planks. 

FCBA further conducted tests on modular timber frame wall units incorporating the materials in the inner layers.  The results show that the thermal conductivity remains the same as with standard inner layers, but there was a significant decrease in the moisture transfer with the composites working as a vapour barrier on the interior side. This could make it interesting for rooms with high humidity as this would avoid moisture accumulating in the timber.

Design Circular Redux

TUDelft has delivered a new version of the Design Circular Guidelines. 

This new report contains an update on the design guidelines based on further investigation and interviews with experts, as well as a comprehensive analysis of their application in the re-design of the Ecobulk demonstrator products. It does not replace the previous report, but complements it with new information and insights.

In short, if you are looking for an in-depth discussion on the link between circular strategies and design aspects for circularity in composite products, the Report on Design Strategies and Tools remains an invaluable resource. For a more practical discussion on the application, and specifically examples of how the guidelines were used for the Ecobulk demonstrators, then please download and be inspired by the new Design Strategies and Tools document.

Both are available for download below, and in our Deliverables section.

The Road to Standardisation

Earlier this year project partner UNE expertly guided the consortium in the process to develop and produce a CEN Workshop Agreement (CWA). These represent a consensus agreement based on an open workshop where subject matter experts examine the proposed specifications, and can be a step to further standardisation efforts in the future.

Ecobulk submitted and proposed two CWAs based on the work done specifically for Design for Circularity and Composite Recovery in the Automotive Industry.

CWA17806:2021: Design Circular Framework Setting. Composite recovery design solutions in the automotive industry

CWA17807:2021: Dismantling methods and protocols in a Circular Economy Framework. Composite recovery in the automotive industry

With the publication of these two CWAs, the project has officially met its ambitious objectives concerning the contribution of the ECOBULK project to standardization.

Our thanks and congratulations to UNE and the partners involved in this effort for this great achievement. 

Both CWAs are available for free dowload from the CENCENELEC site in the CWA Download Area.

Coming Up

Walking the Talk: Ecobulk and SPIRE Webinar

You are warmly invited to attend this cluster webinar that will feature Ecobulk topics as well as several other sister SPIRE projects dealing with circular composites on the 27th of October.
Register now or read more here.

Ecobulk at Ecomondo: Automotive focus at ISWA Booth

Also on the 27th of October, ISWA will be focusing on automotive applications of circular composite products. Ecobulk will be presenting with its partners CRF and NTT, and joining a panel discussion with other H2020 representatives from Multicycle, DECOAT and ALMA.

Read more here, or drop by the booth.

PRSE 2021 Amsterdam

Ecobulk will be represented at the Plastics Recycling Show Europe to be held in Amsterdam on the 4th and 5th of November. Together with another SPIRE project Multicycle they will present and discuss the projects.

Free registration to attend if you are in the neighbourhood.

End-of-Life Issues and Strategies 2021

Markku Vilkki from Conenor will be attending and presenting the work done in Ecobulk with windturbine material recycling.

WindEurope’s EoLIS 2021 is the event on End-of-Life Issues and Strategies topics of ageing wind farms. This in-depth seminar will tackle topics on life-time extension of wind farms, repowering, decommissioning and recycling.

Find out more.

Consortium Meeting

The next and final consortium meeting will be held on the 19th of November. The partners will gather to discuss the final results and celebrate the projects successes. We will bring you an update from straight after the event!

Past Events

Kassim Caratella from COVENTRY University attended the INTERNATIONAL WORKSHOP
ON SMART CITY: WHERE TO BEGIN? as a keynote speaker. He covered the topic of
Circular Economy for the construction industry, outlining the current stance of Circular Economy and its uptake with the industry. The ECOBULK project was heavily highlighted as a project striving towards achieving Circular Economy success and encouraging the movement towards it with its innovation and developments.

Adrian Lopera Valle, from WARWICK University represented ECOBULK at webinar, part
of the Resonate Festival, organised by the University of Warwick and the City of
Coventry. He presented the ECOBULK solutions for modular furniture and light outdoor construction materials using discarded composites, both of which have been implemented at the university.

Markku Vilkki from CONENOR was also requested to participate and present in the 4th meeting of the Stakeholders’ group for the end-of-life recreational boats 14 June 2021, hosted by the European Commission Directorate for Maritime Affairs. The presentation was on “Converting  composite plastic waste into circular recycled Materials and Products” as part of the more general discussion on Recycling Composites within the industry, since the CONENOR solutions used for the wind turbine blades is easily transferable to the boating industry that uses similar composites.

UPC has participated in the creation of the COTEC foundation report regarding the
situation of the circular economy in Spain. Both barriers and enabling conditions were
discussed in the fields of energy, construction, plastics, textile, water and agricultural
sectors. Findings from the ECOBULK project were presented and discussed, highlighting
important barriers and enablers and reaching conclusions regarding circular economy
implementation situation that will be included in the report.

MICROCAB exhibited at the City of Culture Transport Innovation Showcase at the Coventry Transport Museum as part of the UK City of Culture program which will run from mid 2021 to mid 2022. The MicroCab Vianova, which uses the parts created for it within ECOBULK is there, plus additional exhibits around Circular Economy, for example disassembled parts, ECOBULK materials etc.

Thank you for reading our newsletter. If you would like to find out more about our project. please visit our website or drop us an email at info@ecobulk.org.

Ecobulk at Ecomondo – Automotive Sector Highlight

October 22, 2021 by Jose Uribe

Ecobulk will be joining H2020 projects DECOAT, Multicycle and ALMA at the ISWA stand during the Ecomondo Exhibition in Rimini between the 26th and 29th of October 2021. 

The program on Wednesday the 27th will feature live presentations on these projects and a round table discussion on Circularity for Composites in Automotive. There will also be presentations streamed in from the Ecobulk Webinar – Walking The Talk, featuring the project Fiberuse and further contributions from the Ecobulk team on business models.

If you are in Rimini, join us at the ISWA stand.

And if you are not, join the Walkng the Talk Webinar, which will feature a live broadcast from Rimini!

 

Download Program

Ecobulk Webinar – Walking the Talk Towards a Circular Economy

by Jose Uribe

ECOBULK will be hosting a webinar on Wednesday 27th October celebrating the achievements of this and other projects working to make circularity a reality for composite materials.

Join us, together with DECOAT, FIBEREUSE, PLASTICIRCLE to learn about the latest advancements from these great projects.

Our special guest, Evelina Paunksnytė from ASPIRE will also be talking about the transition from SPIRE to Processes4Planet.

The webinar will start from 09:00 CET until 14:00, and will include a live stream from Ecomondo in Rimini.

Download the full program.

Register Here
Fiberuse

Publication of CEN Workshop Agreements (CWA) based on Ecobulk

October 12, 2021 by Jose Uribe

Earlier this year project partner UNE expertly guided the consortium in the process to develop and produce a CEN Workshop Agreement (CWA). These represent a consensus agreement based on an open workshop where subject matter experts examine the proposed specifications, and can be a step to further standardisation efforts in the future.

Ecobulk submitted and proposed two CWAs based on the work done specifically for Design for Circularity and Composite Recovery in the Automotive Industry.

  • CWA17806:2021: Design Circular Framework Setting. Composite recovery design solutions in the automotive industry

    This document defines a circular design approach with the aim of delivering long-lasting and modular products in the automotive industry that will be easy to upgrade, refurbish and reuse, to be aligned with Europe’s new regulations and to start building the transition to a Circular Economy.

  • CWA17807:2021: Dismantling methods and protocols in a Circular Economy Framework. Composite recovery in the automotive industry

    Current recycling systems for ELV’s (End of Life Vehicles) are designed to valorize the metallic content. Currently there is an ongoing trend to use non-metallic parts, low value, and complex materials in the vehicle (and future ELV) to reduce their carbon footprint. This document overviews, optimizes and validates the strategies and technologies for collection and material recovery (plastics, foam, glass, fibres from vehicle parts) for (re-) manufacturing, in addition to parts that are already being recycled.

With the publication of these two CWAs, the project has officially met its ambitious objectives concerning the contribution of the ECOBULK project to standardization. 

Our thanks and congratulations to UNE and the partners involved in this effort for this great achievement.

Both CWAs are available for free dowload from the CENCENELEC site in the CWA Download Area.

Design Guidelines Redux

October 1, 2021 by Jose Uribe

They say hindsight is 20/20. We think our design circular design guidelines published towards the beginning of the project have stood the test of time quite well, and continue to provide an insightful discussion and a useful framework on how to design composite products for a circular age.

However, they also say that the proof is in the pudding, meaning that the success of the guidelines can only be truly measured by the outcomes they helped produce as our project partners re-imagined and re-designed their products. That is why we now offer you the results of the continuing efforts of the TUDelft in refining the Circular Design Guidelines (with special thanks to PhD researcher Jelle Joustra and Prof Ruud Balkenende).

 

This new report can be contains an update on the design guidelines based on further investigation and interviews with experts, as well as a comprehensive analysis of their application in the re-design of the Ecobulk demonstrator products.

In short, if you are looking for an in-depth discussion on the link between circular strategies and design aspects for circularity in composite products, the Report on Design Strategies and Tools remains an invaluable resource. For a more practical discussion on the application, and specifically examples of how the guidelines were used for the Ecobulk demonstrators, then please download and be inspired by the new Design Strategies and Tools document. 

Both are available for download below, and in our Deliverables section.

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