Reducing industrial waste is as much about changing the way we think about it as it is about developing new technologies and processes. The EU-funded project ZEROWIN brought together diverse businesses to form regional networks, showing that recycling and reusing waste not only makes economic sense but can be easily achieved.

Waste reduction through cooperation

“The aim of this project was to move from a traditional industrial model, in which waste is considered the norm, to integrated systems where everything has its use,” explains project coordinator Bernd Kopacek from the Austrian Society for Systems Engineering and Automation. “This involved regional collaboration among companies from traditionally separate sectors, which then exchange by-products, energy, water and materials in such a way that waste from one industry becomes raw material for another.”

The project, which involved academic, research and industrial partners from across Europe and one partner in Taiwan, targeted the electrical and electronic equipment sector, the automotive sector, the photovoltaic sector and the construction sector. The objective was to see what kind of businesses might make use of, say, old solar panel material, and then bring the relevant ones together.

“By focusing on the automotive, construction, electronics and photovoltaic industries, the project consciously addressed nearly 3 million companies – of which 80% are small to medium-sized enterprises – that employ more than 20 million employees,” says Kopacek. “Together, these industries create about 40% – more than 400 million tonnes – of industrial waste each year, and use as much as 50% of all the materials extracted from the earth´s crust.”

Project demonstrations

The networks formed as part of this project have produced goods. One project demonstration successfully manufactured a new ecological laptop computer from reused and recycled furniture and IT components, showing that electronic waste still has value.  

A similar network was created for the photovoltaic sector, which again ensured that many of the high tech components used in the industry can be recycled and reused. The project’s key message is that waste streams need not end up in landfill, but can be put back into everyday products.

In construction, an industrial network of suppliers helped to reduce the sector’s consumption of resources. The network, which consists of producers of materials and components, owners, architects, waste managers and other related companies, have helped businesses in this sector to reduce their use of energy and raw materials.

This was demonstrated in a number of selected projects that were carried out. One of these was the refurbishment of Deutsche Bank's Head Office in Berlin, which was completed with materials supplied through the industrial waste network. ZEROWIN has also shown that by-products from cars have potential for a second life.

This project demonstrated its worth not only through practical demonstrations, but through hitting key targets as well. The formation of regional waste networks enabled the industrial sectors – the automotive, construction, electronics and photovoltaic industries – to meet at least two of the following objectives:  a 30% reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, a 70% overall re-use and recycling of waste and a 75% reduction of fresh water use.

“The results of these case studies were immediately taken into the day-to-day business of the involved industrial partners,” says Kopacek. “In most cases, the chief economic benefits were found to lie in cost reductions from reducing waste fees, cheaper, recycled material and a better environmental image.”