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Systemic expansion of territorial CIRCULAR Ecosystems for end-of-life FOAM

Project description

Upcycling foam into higher-value products

Polyurethane foams are used widely in large-scale applications – from carpet underlay to vehicle interiors. Rigid forms of the foams are effective insulation materials used in construction: roof and wall insulation, insulated windows, doors and air barrier sealants. Mountains of toxic polyurethane end up in landfill. The EU-funded CIRCULAR FOAM project will reverse this trend. Specifically, it will develop a cross-sectoral systemic solution for the circularity of high-performance plastics from diverse applications. The waste streams will be upcycled chemically and valorised to become new virgin-equivalent feedstock for the chemical industry to produce new high-performance plastics.

Objective

CIRCULAR FOAM aims at the demonstration of a territorial cross-sectorial systemic solution for the circularity of high performance plastics from diverse applications on the example of rigid polyurethane foams used as insulation in refrigerators and in construction. The waste streams will be upcycled chemically, which means that they will be valorised to become new virgin-equivalent feedstock for the chemical industry to produce new high performance plastics. In this way, it will become possible to replace limited fossil-based resources by the renewable waste-based ones, thus not only reducing waste, but also becoming more sustainable and making a step forward to climate neutrality. The project and the demonstration are targeting a concrete implementation of the solution in question in the selected regions after the project and developing a blueprint for both the geographical transferability to other regions and for the technological extension of the circularity principle to a number of further waste materials from further applications. We consider here two carefully selected regions: NRW/Germany, Silesia/PL and Greater Amstedam Region. The consortium is composed of all actors required to close the circular value chain (process industries, manufacturing, waste management, technology providers, incl. also research partners, logistics, social scientists and economist working with with public sector and citizens. After practical implementation and replication in EU of the systemic solution, following reductions will have been attained by 2040: 586.000 tons per year less waste, 18,6 mln. tons less CO2 emission; 118 mln EUR less cost for incineration for the PU producers. The system will signifficantly contribute to resilience in regions.

Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)

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Keywords

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Programme(s)

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Topic(s)

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Funding Scheme

Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.

IA - Innovation action

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Call for proposal

Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.

(opens in new window) H2020-LC-GD-2020

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Coordinator

COVESTRO DEUTSCHLAND AG
Net EU contribution

Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.

€ 3 441 209,37
Address
KAISER WILHELM ALLEE 60
51373 Leverkusen
Germany

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Region
Nordrhein-Westfalen Köln Leverkusen, Kreisfreie Stadt
Activity type
Private for-profit entities (excluding Higher or Secondary Education Establishments)
Links
Total cost

The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.

€ 5 060 048,75

Participants (28)

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