“We turn complex waste into useful resources”
TECNALIA recycles waste from single-use auxiliary materials used to make composites
The challenge is to create new materials by reusing vacuum bags, distribution blankets and separator fabrics. Giving single-use materials a new lease of life is one of the major challenges facing industry on its quest for sustainability.
It is against this backdrop that Implicit has emerged, an initiative to develop new materials with industrial applications made using waste, such as vacuum bags, heat-spreading blankets and separator fabrics
- Due to their complex composition, these materials currently pose serious challenges in terms of recycling, which means that in most cases they end up in landfill.
- The Implicit project is turning this situation around by developing innovative solutions that make it possible to reuse them.
Recovering materials that are as pure as possible
TECNALIA, Leartiker, Aimplas and Eurecat launched this initiative, together with Solteco, Birziplastik, Faperin and Industrias Alegre.
The main aim is to develop a recycling process that combines mechanical, physical and chemical technologies, in order to recover materials that are as pure as possible. This will make it possible to produce new recycled materials suitable for manufacturing components for the automotive, technical textiles and street furniture sectors, among other applications.
- Each of the centres and companies involved covers a stage in the recycling value chain, from processing the waste to producing the final product.
- The project was initiated by the Spanish Association of Composite Materials (AEMAC) and is being carried out in collaboration with Airbus, which will supply waste from manufacturing aircraft.
As Pau Manclús, a researcher in chemical recycling at Aimplas pointed out, “The project demonstrates that it is possible to transform complex waste into useful resources, thereby closing the life cycle of these materials and helping to reduce the environmental impact in key sectors”.
*Implicit receives funding from the Centre for Technological Development and Innovation (CDTI) and the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).