ECOBULK Thinking
We believe that the current linear economy model is inefficient and unfair. Wasting our limited resources is a cost that we are accumulating and it is not sustainable.
Making the model more circular is not easy, but not impossible.
ECOBULK is a large-scale European initiative which will demonstrate that re-using, upgrading, refurbishing, and recycling composite products is possible, profitable, sustainable and appealing.
We have selected composite products in the furniture, automotive and building sectors as demonstrators to prove our new circular model.
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Strategy
By shifting our pre-conceptions of design, manufacturing, logistics and customer behaviour, we can create benefits for the environment, the society and the economy, while offering business opportunities to participants along the entire value chain.
Modularity
Recovery
Remanufacture
Upgrade
Platform
Recycling & recovery
of materials
Modular parts
Reuse components
Intermediate products
(Re)manufacture
(Re)furbish
Extended life
Second life
Personalization
Repair / upgrade
Customization
Upgrading
Maintaining
Doing it yourself
Waste
Reduce:
Leakage
Major Shifts
From product design to end of life, we are developing and implementing actions to drive this change, focusing on:
DESIGN for modularity
A disruptive design methodology that foresees the look and performance of products along the value chain and adopts Design for x strategies.
The methodology, supported with a Circularity Indicator and Materials Software and Database, creates products that later can transform into new ones that generate minimum waste.
DESIGN
PRODUCT (re)manufacturing
Formulating materials that allow high recycled content will require minor changes in the well-established manufacturing technologies ensuring high replicability in the industry.
Additionally, Decision System Support (DSS) and Quality Assurance Systems (QAS) implemented at all product stages will ensure the products meet maximum expectations.
PRODUCT
e-LOGISTICS
Products will be labelled and tracked through innovative systems simultaneously linked to a platform where end-users, designers, manufacturers, and other relevant participants are connected. Tracking our products’ lifecycle will be easy and the information flow transparent.
e-LOGISTICS
CIRCULAR BUSINESS models
We will shift from the rigid ownership to leasing, buy-back, sharing collaborative practices, and product as a service models. New opportunities will be open for retailers, collectors, distributors and consumers. These strategies will allow to increase the reuse and recycling of parts and materials helping us to produce more uniform recovered material flows and minimum leakage.
CIRCULAR BUSINESS
USER AND STAKEHOLDERS platform
The e-place (a web/mobile app) where end-users and all participants of the value chain engage the conversation on how to improve product design and usage. Connected with other systems, this e-place will ease the communication between the participants supported with information that was never available before.
USER AND STAKEHOLDERS
END OF LIFE management
When the products reached the EoL, and can no longer be reused or refurbished, more homogeneous waste streams will be produced as a result of the enriched value chain. Waste sorting, characterization technologies, and material conditioning technologies will enable the valorization of the waste streams converted into more uniform recovered materials which will be reintroduced into the production line.
END OF LIFE
Demos
With more than 15 demonstrators in 7 European countries, ECOBULK is one of the most ambitious initiatives in the circular economy in terms of
- Design: design for modularity, design for disassembly/dismantling
- Materials: fibre and particle reinforced plastic composites
- Manufacturing technology: moulding, extrusion, hot pressing, thermobonding
- Business models: leasing, renting, PSS, fix-it shops, etc.
The demonstration actions start in the month 24 of the project when product prototypes will be ready. Keep connected for more…
Case studies
The case studies will involve examples from 3 different industries, each of which will have a real life demonstrator.
Auto industry
Construction
Demostrators will include new service houses for the new Kymring Motorsport Center.