WASTE2GO · Development and verification of an innovative full life sustainable approach to the valorisation of municipal solid waste into industrial feedstocks

Management and segregation of municipal solid waste (MSW) has been increasingly imposed on individuals, with highly variable impacts. Waste2Go will valorise this heterogeneous material that has significant socio-economic costs. It will involve the innovative transformation of over 55% of MSW, the biogenic fraction, into renewable chemicals, advancing beyond current approaches to bio-refining which employ crop derived feedstocks. A cascade approach will be adopted to maximise value. Annually >180 million tonnes of MSW are discarded in the EU27, (in excess of 1kg per citizen every day). Waste2Go will develop technologies to improve waste management and increase value (social, economic & environmental). This will be validated as Best Available Technology (BAT) by recognised LCA experts. It will extend beyond the state-of-the-art in enzyme based technologies for fine-tuned biomass processing and combine them with intelligent techniques for MSW fractionation and downstream processing. It will unlock economic value from MSW and reduce its serious environmental impacts. MSW will become a sustainable source of raw materials for the chemical industry, replacing fossil sources. It will advance leading EU expertise in:1) Enzyme research, on rapid and controlled substrate digestion;2) Bioprocess engineering and;3) Advanced purification techniques, to maximise value.This project will improve the competitiveness of SMEs in the waste management sector; a sector with the highest proportion of SMEs and the lowest proportion of valued added of any EU industrial sector, although worth over €100 billion p.a. and employing over 1.2 million people.The consortium involves five SMEs, two research institutes and one multinational company providing market pull. The EU chemical industry is the world’s largest, with sales of €526 billion, a trade surplus of €47 billion and employing over 1.15 million people.