CIP Eco-innovation

The eco-innovation initiative bridged the gap between research and the market. It helped innovative green ideas become fully-fledged commercial prospects, ready for use by business and industry.

There were five main strands to this initiative:

Materials recycling and recycling processes;
Sustainable building products;
Food and drink sector;
Water efficiency, treatment and distribution;
Greening business.

Find out which projects have been co-financed in the Eco-innovation projects database.

Funded projects

An estimated 2.6 million new shoes are sold in Europe annually and, each year, 1.5 million tons of old shoes plus 90 000 tons of by-products from shoe manufacturers end up being deposited in landfill sites or incineration, both of which are potentially harmful to the environment. This innovative project used a special shoe grinding process to recycle old shoes, incorporating them into a wide variety of new products.

The food industry makes extensive use of food trays, from fruit and vegetable packaging to ready meals. Current food trays are made of virgin polypropylene which, when no longer useful, finds its way into landfill or incineration. rPET-FOAM has piloted an alternative to the current trays on offer which is lighter, uses less crude oil and can be reused an indefinite number of times.

One of the top ten manufacturing sectors in the EU, the textile industry produces around 12 million tonnes of waste a year. Much of this ends up in landfill with a significant percentage (18%) heading for incineration. The INPAT project seeks to use the waste as raw material in the production of sound insulating panels to be used in construction.

The water used to irrigate plants in greenhouses is usually discharged as waste. This new cost effective and sustainable technology recycles the water through electrolytic disinfection. The technology also makes for healthier plants.

With society facing an ever-rising need to increase resource efficiency, this project has delivered an energy-efficient production line for paper bottles, providing a green alternative to laminated and plastic bottles.

The setting up of an EU-wide network for collecting and dismantling equipment no longer needed by the fishing and fish farming industries is a big step towards reducing plastic waste in the sea and in landfills.

Landfill waste - glass and plastic - is the main component of a new and versatile material for use in the sustainable construction industry. The savings in CO2 emissions could lead to the creation of a new market.

Confectionary producer Ferrero (Italy) has teamed up with members of the paperboard and packaging industry to find a productive use for the hazelnut shells and cocoa bean peel left over from their production of confectionary.

Oil spills can have a devastating impact on the environment and the need to act quickly and effectively after such a catastrophe is paramount. The GEnIuS project promotes a material that can rapidly separate oil from seawater, two liquids that do not mix easily together. The advantage it brings is that the loss of a vital energy resource - oil - and damage to aquatic eco-systems is limited.

Every year, about 3.4 million tonnes of old tyres are disposed of in Europe, most being dumped or sent to landfill. Noise is assessed as one of the main environmental problems, and traffic is one of the principle sources of noise. This project has come up with a solution, using scrap tyres to make noise protection panels for busy urban roads and railway lines.

Sidewall panels are fundamental in the construction of planes and other vehicles. Currently those made for the aeronautical industry are made of layers, some of which are made of noxious materials that are hard to recycle. Panels made of sustainable materials offer an appropriate alternative with positive effect on the vehicles CO2 footprint.

Plastic-made components, or wads, in the traditional gun cartridge used by the hunting community are highly toxic. They can cause ecological damage to the environment and even kill animals that eat them after the pellets have been fired. The non toxic alternative produced by Plasticos Hidrosolubles is both ecologically friendly and poses no threat to animals or wildlife.

Success stories

Legal basis

The eco-innovation initiative was part of the EU’s Competitiveness and Innovation Framework Programme.

Decision No 1639/2006/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 24 October 2006 establishing a Competitiveness and Innovation Framework Programme (2007 to 2013)

The Executive Agency for Competitiveness and Innovation (EACI) – which has since become the Executive Agency for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (EASME) – managed the eco-innovation initiative on behalf of the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Environment.

Programme results

A study carried out in 2016 shows that the eco-innovation initiative brought significant environmental benefits as well as the creation of jobs in Europe:

News

21/12/2020

51 new environment and resources projects in the pipeline

The European Commission has selected 51 projects that will receive around €381,5 million under Horizon 2020's Societal Challenge "Climate action, environment, resource efficiency and raw materials" and Horizon 2020 “Cross-cutting activities”.
17/12/2020

Check our top class environment and resources projects

The Cordis Results Packs on environment and resources present the results of projects funded under Horizon 2020 that have driven forward the European Green Deal and the New Circular Economy Action Plan.
07/12/2020

EASME welcomes five new large-scale demonstration projects to build a water-smart economy and society

Five new large-scale demonstration projects (average EU contribution exceeds €14 million per each project), financed through the Horizon 2020 Call for proposals Building a water-smart economy and society, kick-started last week.

Select your language

CIP Eco-innovation

Funded projects

Success stories

Legal basis

Programme results

News

51 new environment and resources projects in the pipeline

Check our top class environment and resources projects

EASME welcomes five new large-scale demonstration projects to build a water-smart economy and society

Events

Share this page:

CIP Eco-innovation

Funded projects

gallery

Success stories

Legal basis

Programme results

News

51 new environment and resources projects in the pipeline

Check our top class environment and resources projects

EASME welcomes five new large-scale demonstration projects to build a water-smart economy and society

Events

Share this page: