From sorting and separation to material recovery and recycling using artificial intelligence and robotics, the EU projects workshop at Ecomondo, organised by consortium partner International Solid Waste Association (ISWA), showcased the collective efforts of European Union-funded projects to transition towards a circular economy through sustainable waste management practices.
The annual exhibition in Rimini, Italy, collectivised a multitude of stakeholders from green technology sectors, including solid waste management, with the intention to define and influence the strategies for the development of European industrial and environmental policy.
In view of this ambition, ISWA brought four EU-funded projects together – Wood2Wood, Reclaim, EcoRefibre, and Grinner – for a workshop to identify synergies for potential technical cooperation in future with the aim to increase the visibility and impact of Horizon Europe Projects. The workshop titled “From Waste to Resource- Innovative Approaches to Material Recovery and Sustainable Waste Management” was a practical example to demonstrate cross-collaboration between EU-funded projects.
The four projects presented their respective technical innovations in material recovery, recycling and upcycling, using various tools, such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), Robotics, Advanced Imaging (RGB, HSI) and Digital Tools, across multiple waste streams, such as solid waste, Waste from Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) and wood waste from construction and demolition (C&D), and furniture sectors.
Simonetta Cota and Andrea Centuorini from the Grinner Project highlighted the challenges in tackling battery-related fires and improving e-waste management through AI and Robotics.
Wood2Wood Project representatives Kostas Chatziioannou and Vasilikis Tzelepi introduced the project’s wood-to-wood cascade upcycling valorisation approach, and the three Use Cases in the project.
In short, the W2W project representatives apprised the audience on the implementation process to extract maximum value from Construction & Demolition Waste (CDW) and furniture waste streams by prioritising multiple uses and transformations of wood, depending on three aspects: composition, availability of upcycling technologies and supply chain restrictions.
EcoRefibre project, which is closely aligned with W2W in terms of reusing secondary wood resources, focused on developing commercially viable pathways of recycling fibreboards into new fibreboards, thereby promoting sustainable use of natural resource and promoting a circular economy. The project intends to launch five industrial pilot projects to demonstrate how circular economy approaches supported by digital technologies can secure raw material supply for Europe, especially given the demand for wood-based products in the bloc. This forms the backdrop of the collaboration between EcoRefibre and W2W specifically. EcoRefibre’s representative Gerard Deroubaix and his team focused on how to recycle wood waste back into fibreboards and novel building products, also focusing on practical use cases.
Lastly, the Reclaim project discussed the development of a state-of-the-art AI-powered, low-cost, portable robotic material recovery facility (prMRF) for decentralised waste sorting with industrial-level efficiency in hard-to-reach areas that are underserved by centralised material recovery facilities.
During the workshop, EcoRefibre’s Gerard asked Kostas Chatziioannou if the W2W project is setting any standards for sorting and separation of wood waste, and this is what he said in short:
We have different solutions for different types of wood, for example, we have robotic arms that can move different materials to sorting bins, and we are using air nozzles for wood chips and smaller chips
Moreover, a W2W technology used in the project caught Reclaim project coordinator Michail Maniadakis’ keen attention: the working of Cobots. And here’s what Kostas said:
Enhancing human-machine collaboration in industrial environments is essential in the industry of the future. The idea is that the human is actively overseeing the cobot (collaborative robot) and even hand-picks pieces of materials that the cobots are handling in a collaborative way. In W2W, cobots are sorting different types of wood based on data, wood classification, hyperspectral imaging and other sensors
Interestingly, in the W2W project, the human can pick up what the cobot is unable to handle and processes it manually, for example the worker can separate nails or other foreign materials that contaminate the wood piece. The robot and cobot will both perform advanced automated sorting techniques, but there are different safety classifications separating the two.
The Q&A questions and answers session proved to be very valuable as the projects were able to identify future areas of collaboration among each other. For example, hyperspectral imaging (HSI) for waste identification has been identified as an area of potential collaboration between Wood2Wood and RECLAIM. Talks are on to see if more areas of collaboration can be explored at the technical level.
Following the workshop, the four EU projects spent time at the ISWA booth at Ecomondo to display their project innovations and, in some cases, their project results.
At some point, W2W Project left the cozy confines of the ISWA International Solid Waste Association booth to seek synergies with other EU-funded wood-based projects.
And we were surprised by the similarities shared by FurnCircle project with W2W, especially in relation to targeting the furniture sector as they aim to make it more circular and climate neutral, whereas in our project we will derive secondary materials from the furniture sector and turn them into value-added products, thereby contributing to the same objective.
But also engaging the sector through other means, including analysing the potential of new green skills needed for labour force to adapt to the circular economy transition and provide tools and recommendations to stakeholders to address challenges related to circularity.
The project also offers an online self-assessment tool for businesses to evaluate their readiness to adopt Circular Economy practices.
There is potential for collaboration here with W2W.
In the end, the EU projects booth day and the workshop their commitment towards narrowing, and eventually closing the loop of waste that is usually discarded in landfills or incinerated, by focusing on material recovery rather than energy recovery, and in this way allow for the creation of new value-added products from waste materials, using Artificial Intelligence, Robotics, Digital Tools and advanced imaging.
Ultimately, the objective of these EU-FUNDED projects is to support the European Union transition towards a circular economy by promoting closed loop systems where materials are continuously repurposed and reused, extending their useful life.
Thanks to ISWA and all the other EU-funded projects for the successful collaboration with the hope to connect our technical solutions for wider dissemination purposes.