CIRCE helps Aragon’s avant-garde companies to save energy by recycling plastic thanks to the polynSPIRE project

The CIRCE research centre has called on firms including Aplast, CAAR, HMY, Pikolin, Relax and Urbaser to implement the project’s progress in their production processes

polynSPIRE involves 21 international partners from a variety of sectors such as construction, the automobile industry and the textile industry, helping to make them more efficient and competitive

The CIRCE Foundation hosted a meeting to welcome the European polynSPIRE project’s consortium (captained by CIRCE), which aims to save energy in plastic recycling processes. As well as discussing the results the project has achieved so far, CIRCE saw the project partners’ visit to the capital of the Aragon region as an opportunity to apply those results at a regional level.

Therefore, CIRCE gathered a series of leading firms, including Urbaser, Relax, Pikolin, Aplast and the Aragon Automobile Cluster (CAAR), to take part in a networking event in Zaragoza and explore the opportunities that these new plastic recycling pathways can give rise to in the business fabric and to gain awareness of the current and future demands of the region’s companies.

The framework for polynSPIRE’s development is a project comprising 21 partners and funded with € 8 million by the European Commission as part of the Horizon2020 programme. The idea is to use chemical and mechanical recycling to lower the use of fossil resources in polyamides (synthetic fibres) by 34% and in polyurethane (plastic substances) by 32%, which would entail a 30 to 40% reduction in CO2 emissions.

The businesses who came to the event were keen to explore collaboration solutions so as to place Aragon at the technological forefront of sustainable plastic processing in Europe. Collaboration opportunities were also discussed amongst the partners and regional firms attending the meeting, which shows the potential of the polynSPIRE project just 7 months into its development.

This is a pioneering initiative driven by CIRCE, an unquestionable benchmark when it comes to developing European innovation. The outcome of the event is extremely interesting for the consortium, the companies invited to attend and especially the European Commission, and will be referred to as best practice for future experiences linked to the project, whether they are led by CIRCE or by other institutions where the Foundation plays a key role.