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Urban Circular Bioeconomy Conference: CAFIPLA project organizes stakeholder event and presents final results

After 3 productive years, the CAFIPLA project comes to a successful end. At the final Urban Circular Bioeconomy Conference, the project partners presented findings of the final months and the trial phase of the CAFIPLA pilot plant. The CAFIPLA technology provides an alternative concept to biowaste valorisation and scaled up the process to TRL5. Joined by expert speakers from the City Council and European projects such as Tech4Biowaste and the HOOP network, the participants discussed state-of-the-art approaches and needs to be addressed in the future for accelerating implementation of the urban circular bioeconomy.

On 10 May 2023, the final CAFIPLA Conference "Urban Circular Bioeconomy" was held at the Europa Congress Palace in Vitoria-Gasteiz in North Spain. The event was an opportunity to discuss new findings, different approaches and current challenges of biowaste upcycling. Expert speakers from industry and research shared their perspectives on biowaste utilisation: Joseba Sánchez, representant of the City Council of Vitoria, opened talks by presenting the city’s organic waste management infrastructure and recycling goals. Susann Günther from DBFZ, the German Biomass Research Center, showcased the European Biomass Atlas developed during the CAFIPLA project to map and monitor biogenic resource potentials across Europe and Stef Denayer introduced the Tech4Biowaste database of technologies and technology providers for valorising biogenic residues. Following, Esther Hegel from DECHEMA emphasised the future importance of biowaste as a resource in her talk on the “Impact and markets of biowaste-derived materials” and an impressive example for this was then given by Ana Carolas from Biotrend who manufacture high quality biowaste-based polymer films and materials. 

With this conference, the CAFIPLA project celebrated its successful completion after 3 years. During the course of the project, the TRL5 pilot plant was put into operation and processed in total almost 20 tonnes of mixed biowaste withing the last months to obtain the valuable CAFIPLA platform products: carboxylic acids and fibres. Through a multichannel dissemination approach resulting e.g., in articles, radio interviews, podcasts, webinars and workshops as well as conference participations, the CAFIPLA partners not only promoted the scientific relevance of biowaste upcycling but brought the topic also to the public attention to help improve public awareness and encourage participation. 

Thanks to all participants for their inspiring contributions and to the city of Vitoria for the support and insights on local urban circular bioeconomy projects. The Conference recordings are available online and the Proceedings can be downloaded here.

In the CAFIPLA project, 12 partners from across Europe, including six SMEs, are taking up the challenge of developing a new integrated platform for the economic conversion of biowaste into higher value products. They are supported by research institutes, universities, and industrial companies. The CAFIPLA Conference was organised by CAFIPLA partner TECNALIA Research & Innovation, the largest center of applied research and technological development in Spain. All communication materials and public project outcomes are available on the CAFIPLA website.

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