Eco-innovation

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. The product, already on the list of materials approved in Italy for oil spill clean-ups, is also effective for hydrocarbon removal from contaminated soils.

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• GEnIus website
• Eco-innovation programme
• GEnIuS in Eco-innovation database
• Funding opportunities
• The EU's Executive Agency for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (EASME) manages the funding for projects in this field.

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.

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• Project website
• Eco-innovation programme
• Ecoimppact in the Eco-innovation database
• New opportunities for funding
• The EU's Executive Agency for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (EASME) manages the funding for projects in this field.

The polyurethane foam used to make car seats usually ends up in landfills because it is costly to recycle. A Spanish-French consortium has come up with a sustainable 3D fabric made from industrial waste that can be easily recycled when a seat reaches the end of its life.

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• GREENUP
• Eco-innovation
• Greenup in the Eco-innovation database
• New funding opportunities
• The EU's Executive Agency for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (EASME) manages the funding for projects in this field.

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. The project now intends to go into greater production.

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• rPET-FOAM
• Eco-innovation
• RPET-Foam in the Eco-innovation database
• New funding opportunities
• The EU's Executive Agency for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (EASME) manages the funding for projects in this field.

The secure envelope market is set to undergo a recycling revolution, partly due to the public’s growing awareness of environmental issues. Inspired by EU efforts to promote products made from eco-friendly materials, this initiative seeks to replace non-ecological envelopes made from highly-polluting polyethylene plastic with paper, laminated with eco-plastic. SELLOPE improves environmental performance by cutting CO2 emission, diverting waste from landfills and promoting recycling and compostability.

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• SELLOPE website
• Eco-innovation programme
• SELLOPE in Eco-Innovation Database
• Opportunities for funding
• The EU Executive Agency for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (EASME) manages the funding for projects in this field.