EU projects’ white paper series: enabling transition to sustainable and recyclable composites
We are pleased to present the white papers series on Transition to sustainable composites: use, recycling, upscale & remanufacturing. These documents build on the knowledge and results generated throughout REPOXYBLE, enriched by feedback from project partners, experts, and other stakeholders and a close collaboration with the projects r-LightBioCom, FOREST, FURHY, MC4, and SUSPENS (from the EcoComposites Cluster), as well as RECREATE.
Topics
Together, the three white papers explore key aspects of the transition towards more sustainable and circular composite materials:
- Widening the use of sustainable composite materials
- Recyclability, end-of-life and circularity in composite development
- Upscale and circular business models
REPOXYBLE focused on two complementary challenges:
- designing advanced materials that meet the technical requirements and specifications of demanding sectors such as automotive and aerospace, while combining lightweight properties, multifunctionality and chemical recyclability;
- developing chemical processes for the optimized and cost-effective separation, recovery and remanufacturing of polymer composite materials and components.
The white papers highlight that achieving greater circularity and recyclability requires coordinated technical, industrial and policy actions. At the same time, more sustainable bio-based composite solutions need to deliver features — including cost, functionality and performance — that are at least comparable to, and ideally better than, those of established fossil-based alternatives.
