The FISSAC 6th General Assembly took place in Valencia on 18-19 April 2018. This meeting gave partners the opportunity to discuss project progress and upcoming work. At 60% of the project’s lifespan, much work has already been realised.

Closed-loop recycling processes to transform waste into secondary raw materials have been fully designed, validated, and checked for quality assurance. The idea is to design new products using these same secondary raw materials. In the first half of the project, FISSAC characterised the manufacturing process and raw materials, as well as the requirements, and selected which raw materials to use. Partners are currently formulating the exact composition of the new products, creating prototypes at laboratory scale, and analysing results. Work on this aspect is being fined-tuned in order to have the prototypes ready next month. After this, the next step is to validate these recycling processes new eco-innovative products at pre-industrial scale.

As part of the project, innovative ceramic tiles are being prototyped and validated. The company Keraben, which hosted the general assembly, is in charge of creating these eco-wall tiles and eco-porcelain tiles. Partners therefore were given a tour their factory, offering a unique insight into actual production of ceramic tiles.

In recent months, partners have been actively involving stakeholders via the organisation of local living labs. The General Assembly gave organising partners the opportunity to compare notes and share ideas. To find out more about the FISSAC living labs, please consult the dedicated section on the project website – the news articles may vary based on your language preferences.

Social aspects of industrial symbiosis are also a key aspect of the project, which was discussed during the meeting. To find out more about this fascinating topic, please register to the upcoming webinar, which will take place on 31 May.