EuCIA was honoured to join leaders of the German composites industry at a meeting of the Sustainability Working Group of AVK, the German Association for Fibre Reinforced Plastics/Composites.
The seminar at the AVK office in Frankfurt on 10th December was organised around the theme Experience reports with recycling concepts. The agenda commenced with an update on EuCIA’s activities from Jaap van der Woude, who is chairman of EuCIA’s Sustainability Working Group. This was followed by presentations offering insights into composites sustainability and circularity initiatives from Fraunhofer IGCV, Amiblu Germany GmbH, Pultex GmbH, Laser Zentrum Hannover e.V., Bond-Laminates GmbH, Institut für Textiltechnik (ITA) der RWTH Aachen University, and Fraunhofer IPT.
The meeting concluded with a discussion about the actions needed to establish a supply chain to enable the wider reuse and recycling of composites.
Raphaël Pleynet, EuCIA’s Managing Director, was impressed by the drive and ambition of the German industry and its technical centres. The seminar emphasised that recycling and reuse is not only technically feasible, it is also economically viable. Projects with a ROI of less than two years were reported.
“German players are not waiting for solutions to arrive, they are investing heavily in innovation to demonstrate solutions and recycle their own products. Circularity is really in progress. There is a need to connect all stakeholders in the value chain to maintain the momentum and address barriers such as waste collection, sorting and shredding, but this meeting confirms EuCIA’s vision to establish a Circular Composites Alliance at EU level, which will also act locally.”
We thank AVK for the invitation to join this insightful meeting and for its continued efforts to accelerate composites circularity in Germany.
More information about EuCIA’s initiative to form a Circular Composites Alliance will be released in 2025.
