Waste2BioComp project aims to demonstrate relevant scale production of bio-based products and materials, as alternatives to traditional materials with high environmental footprint, using innovative manufacturing technologies. The project integrates all stages in the bio-based products´ life cycle, starting from R&I activities regarding the sourcing of feedstocks for the development of bio-based precursors and intermediate materials, smart inkjet printing techniques, and smart manufacturing technologies for final products, and the final demonstrators, which will entail the production on a relevant scale of the following bio-based products: shoe sole materials with different hardness; three-layered shoe insoles; plastic films/packaging with different flexibilities; social face masks; fashion garments printed with bio-based inks; leather and textile shoes printed with bio-based inks; paper for packaging printed with bio-based inks. Waste2BioComp will also develop sustainability and toxicity assessments to the developed materials and products, as well as re-manufacturing and recycling approaches to ensure circularity by closing the material loop. Furthermore, the project will develop dedicated training activities to support the creation of a skilled workforce in biomaterial-based manufacturing sectors, particularly for the textile, footwear, and packaging activities. Therefore, Waste2BioComp will have a significative impact on the reduction of the use of fossil-based materials, not only in the approached three value chains (textiles, packaging, and footwear), which are highly resource and polluting intensive sectors, but also with potential for several other sectors and applications. The project will run for 36 months, and it will be constituted by 13 partners from France, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Spain, and Switzerland.

WoodVALOR adopts a circular approach by using contaminated wood as a sustainable feedstock to produce paints, coatings, and biochar, showcasing innovative waste valorization. The process converts low-value material into high-performance products while contributing to environmental restoration. The project compares advanced decontamination and fractionation methods with traditional pulping processes. Acrylic acid is produced from the wood's cellulose fraction through the lactic acid route, while fatty acids are obtained via yeast fermentation, ensuring resource efficiency and aligning with circular economy principles. The hemicellulose fraction is transformed into bio-based binders for coatings, reducing reliance on petroleum-derived alternatives. These binders are made more hydrophobic and durable by grafting acrylic acid and fatty acids onto the hemicellulose, enhancing water resistance and longevity. Lignin, often considered a byproduct, is repurposed to produce phenolics, which are grafted onto hemicellulose to further improve the coatings' properties. These coatings are then applied to wood surfaces, creating a closed-loop system where contaminated wood becomes protective material for other wood products. Biochar, produced from process residues, serves two functions. It is used for bioremediation of contaminated soils and in mineral recovery from contaminated wood. The recovered minerals can be reintegrated into coatings, closing another resource loop. By converting contaminated wood into materials that protect wood surfaces and treat soils, WoodVALOR highlights circularity. This approach minimizes waste, promotes resource recovery, and supports environmental health and material efficiency, contributing to a more sustainable EU industry and addressing the major challenges associated with contaminated wood waste.

Colour4CRAFTS proposal combines a multidisciplinary team of experts from research institutes and R&D companies to carry out studies of bio-based textile colouration in traditional historic perspective and in combination with cutting-edge technologies of colourants biosynthesis and waterless applications techniques. The researchers are top experts in archaeology and history, textiles and colouration, biotechnology and chemistry, art, craft and education. Research combines methodologies of history, artefact research and cultural studies, art and craft research, natural sciences and futures studies. This creates a manifold basis to understand colouration practices in history and craft context profoundly and create innovative state-of-the-art solutions for the futures’ bio-based practices. Multidisciplinary methodologies enable the development of new research methodological openings. Education and communication have important roles as they create and enable interventions for traditions transformation into futures green industries. This research proposal supports and fosters European cultural heritage and the European cultural and creative industries, and it initiates new high quality biocolourant and colouration businesses in Europe. Research aims to foster craft skills in textile colouration, and transform the traditional processes into sustainable cutting-edge processes, which support futures’ green deal objectives; through research provide new profound knowledge of traditional craft colouration practices in Europe and especially in the North Eastern Baltic area, and by combining this knowledge with novel technologies create innovative colourants and colouration practices. This helps increasing sustainability in craft scale colouration and more broadly in industrial scale textile production; through futures research methodologies project provides futures visions and the path to the most desirable colouration and textile production practices in Europe.