SCALIBUR · SCALABLE TECHNOLOGIES FOR BIO-URBAN WASTE RECOVERY

SCALIBUR creates a holistic consortium to cut urban biowaste and replace it with a new production chain of biomaterials, forming a partnership of end users to recover and transform biowaste from three municipalities, namely Madrid (ES), Albano (IT) and Kozani (EL), into value added products. During SCALIBUR a complete study of the quality, logistics and management schemes for municipal solid waste (MSW) and urban sewage sludge (USS) will be performed, to integrate innovative systems and technologies and obtain high-value biobased products. In SCALIBUR, HORECA waste will be transformed to proteins, lipids and chitin from insect rearing, while the organic fraction of MSW will generate biopesticides and bioplastics by high-solid enzymatic hydrolysis followed by fermentation. The resulting biogas from MSW and USS will be upgraded by bioelectrochemical treatment to produce commodity chemicals and bioplastics, such as PHBV. By cutting traditional linear waste management, new business models are created for the resulting circular value chains, applying a sustainable approach to generate new activities and benefits. These new profit sources will be created from a baseline analysis of existing waste management data and business models for each municipality, generating social innovation and favouring the adaptation and uptake of new opportunities along the entire urban value cycle. Continuous tests and development along SCALIBUR will create and fine tune new business models based on innovative processes, and feedback will be obtained from all stakeholders, in order to improve the definition, performance and integration of value, to minimize waste and maximize its benefit. With social engagement strategies, key communities will participate in all aspects of the new value creation, calibrating the returns of the project both for the generation of jobs and improved urban welfare, such as reducing the dependence from outside materials and the environmental impacts.