Partners
NONTOX consortium is a unique combination of industry, research institutes and academia. This multidisciplinarity is integral in making the NONTOX concept work. The actors are spread across the NONTOX value chain influencing the direction of the project with their strong background in their relevant fields.
VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland Ltd
VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland Ltd is a state owned and controlled non-profit limited liability company established by law and operating under the ownership steering of the Finnish Ministry of Employment and the Economy. In 2018, VTT’s net turnover was 159,7 million € and other operational incomes were 81,2 million €, with highly educated personnel of 2054. VTT is the largest internationally networked R&D centre for applied research in Northern Europe, harnessing high technology to develop scientific solutions for sustainable development and creating new business opportunities. VTT’s mission is to produce research and innovation services that enhance the international competitiveness of companies, society and other customers and create the prerequisites for society’s sustainable development. VTT has focused its activities based on strong vision for industrial exploitation and customer potential in Finland and potential to achieve global technology excellence level. VTT is organized to have three business areas: Knowledge intensive products and services (KIPS), Smart industry and energy systems (IND, contains the Fuel Cells and Hydrogen team) and Solutions for natural resources and environment (SONE, contains the Material Recycling team). Over the years, VTT has gained vast experience from participation and coordination of numerous European projects including R&D Framework Programme projects and other thematic frameworks and programmes. VTT is ranked among the leading European RTOs.
Fraunhofer
Fraunhofer is the leading organzation for applied research in Europe, undertaking contract research on behalf of industry, the service sector and government. At present, Fraunhofer has about eighty research units, including seventy-five research institutes, at over forty locations in Germany. An annual turnover of about €2800 million is generated by contract research by a staff of about twenty-nine thousand employees. The Fraunhofer Istitute for Process Engineering and Packaging IVV will participate in this project and it has three hundred and twenty-five employees and an annual turnover of € 30,4 million. The Fraunhofer IVV develops and optimizes products and processes primarily in the area of food, packaging, product performance, processing machinery, recycling and environment. The department ‘Process Development of Polymer Recycling’ at Fraunhofer IVV has been founded in 2005 and deals with the separation of pure polymers from plastic containing waste by means of mechanical pre-treatment and solvent based technologies (CreaSolv® Process).
UNIVAN
UNIVAN is the Department of Environmental, Biological and Pharmaceutical Sciences and Technologies of the University of Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli” (www.distabif.unicampania.it). The University has about 940 teachers and researchers, more than 970 people of administrative and technical staff, with about 27,000 undergraduate students, and 340 PhD students. The Department has 65 teachers and researchers, 23 people of administrative and technical staff, with about 2,400 undergraduate students, and 63 PhD students. The Chemical Engineering research group that is active in UNIVAN since 2000 has a recognized international competence in environmental, technological, economic and social aspects of appropriate implementation of Circular Economy. It is involved in several research programmes, in strict connection with industries and SMEs, in the fields of sustainable manufacturing, sustainable building, industrial ecology, resource recovery from biomass and waste, integrated waste management.
Treee
Treee (which since January 2021 has acquired RELIGHT SRL, TRED RECYCLE SRL, NEC SRL) is an entrepreneurial project which, thanks to the M&A activity and the financial support of JZ international, has brought together leaders in logistics and treatment of waste electrical and electronic equipment, to offer all the stakeholders involved, highly specialized services in the field of WEEE collection, treatment, recycling and reuse. Treee (Treatment & Recycling of Electrical and Electronic Equipment) complete the supply chain that goes from the collection to treatment, recycling and recovery of WEEE, thanks to a network of leading plants in WEEE sector located on national territory: Anagni Plant with a section dedicated to recovery of siliceous waste (glass from cathode ray tubes), Fossò Plant specialized in the complete treatment of large household appliances, fridges and TVs, Livorno Plant for the treatment of large household appliances linked to the cold chain and photovoltaic panels, Montalto di Castro Plant with the most advanced technologies for the management of both large household appliances, televisions and small equipment, Rho Plant an Italian excellence within collection, treatment and valorisation of WEEE including light sources and with and R&D department, focused on innovation and recovery technologies.
IMDEA Energy Institute
IMDEA Energy Institute was founded in 2007 by the Regional Government of “Comunidad de Madrid”, with the purpose of promoting R&D activities in energy, primarily in topics related to energy technologies with low carbon emissions. The main research lines of the institute include the concentration of solar energy, biofuel production, electrochemical storage, CO2 valorisation and smart grids. More specifically, the Thermochemical Processes Unit (TPU) is focused on the development of catalytic processes for the production of fuels with reduced CO2 emissions. Currently, IMDEA Energy employs 95 people, predominantly research scientists and engineers with a strong expertise in the field of energy. At present the Institute participates in 40 separate research projects and, since its establishment, it has been involved in 17 European projects.
AIMPLAS
AIMPLAS, Technological Institute of Plastics located in Valencia, is a private, non-profit Association with more than 500 associated companies created in 1990. AIMPLAS is formed by +120 highly skilled professional, more than 65% with a Masters, Engineering or equivalent degree in Chemistry, polymer engineering, materials engineering or equivalent, including 15 PhD. AIMPLAS’ fields of work are related to technological research and development on thermoplastic and thermosetting plastic materials & products, its transformation processes and their recyclability and sustainability. AIMPLAS generates new knowledge and technologies that can be transferred to companies in order to help them to increase their effectiveness and competitiveness.
Stena Metall Group
The family-owned Stena Metall Group, with the mother company Stena Metall AB, is a large recycling business, mainly operating in the northern parts of Europe and in Italy. The Group includes a number of recycling companies with more than 250 recycling sites where materials such as end of life vehicles (ELV), electronic waste (WEEE) and industrial wastes are treated. The group´s services also include collection of metal, paper and plastic waste for further material recycling. Group turnover is approximately 2 billion € with 3500 employees. Stena Recycling International AB (STENA) is a fully owned daughter company to Stena Metall AB. STENA hosts the R&D department within the Stena Metall Group as well as the Business Area for Recycling, which has an overall responsibility for all recycling activities and services. The Group has invested in a state-of-the-art recycling facility for WEEE and ELV in the Nordic countries, the Stena Nordic Recycling Center (SNRC). This plant, located in Halmstad, Sweden, has available presorting techniques as well as possibilities to install and test new techniques.
Stena Recycling AB (SRAB)
Stena Recycling AB (SRAB) is a fully owned daughter company to Stena Metall AB. SRAB has the overall responsibility for all recycling activities and services for the Stena Metall Group in Sweden. SRAB owns a state-of-the-art recycling facility for WEEE and ELV, the Stena Nordic Recycling Center (SNRC), processing metal scrap and electronic scrap from the Nordic countries. This plant, located in Halmstad, Sweden, has available presorting techniques as well as possibilities to install and test new techniques.
GALEA POLYMERS
GALEA POLYMERS, S.L. is a private Spanish company specialized in WEEE plastics recycling coming from European WEEE collection schemes and recyclers. Its activities are focused on Collection and recycling of plastics from WEEE collection schemes and recyclers and trading several kind of plastics mainly from the automotive industry. GALEA is the only Spanish company specialized in WEEE plastics. Has born as a result of an entrepeneur project of a very experienced technicians in the WEEE sector after realizing that WEEE companies are focused mainly in metals recycling but not in plastics, being this plastics as an opportunity. After setting a 5.000 sqm in the north of Spain, 100 km from the french border , GALEA takes part of the solution of European WEEE mix plastics saving tons of being incinerated or landfill.
ERION
Erion is the largest Italian system of Extended Producer Responsibility for the management of waste associated with electronic products and batteries and the valorisation of the raw materials within it. Erion was created by the merge of the two most important Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Consortia in Italy, Ecodom and Remedia, as a single system made by four sector Compliance Schemes to guarantee a unique and excellent service for the management of four types of waste: Household WEEE, Professional WEEE, Waste Batteries and Accumulators, Packaging. The sector Compliance Schemes are supported by ECO (Erion Compliance Organization), the platform responsible for providing them shared services, harmonising their respective operational strategies and coordinating the areas of communication, innovation and development, European projects, regulatory compliance and operations. Erion ensures waste management and regulatory compliance to more than 2,400 Producers of Electrical and Electronic Equipment (EEE) and Batteries and Accumulators throughout the country. Members include the largest and most innovative Producers of electrical and electronic equipment in the world. In 2019 Erion handled 302.005 tons of waste, of which: 239.952 tons of household WEEE, 38.319 tons of professional WEEE, 18.765 tons of Waste Batteries and Accumulators (WBA) and 4.969 tons of other waste. In 2019 the activity of Erion WEEE Compliance Scheme made it possible to recycle 215 thousand tons of secondary raw materials, save 355 million kWh of energy and avoid 1,4 million tons of CO2 equivalent. Erion is committed to promote a transition towards the circular economy with a direct participation in European research projects on eco-innovation of products and the manufacturing processing necessary to make them. Erion Projects and Innovation (P&Is) team analyses have contributed to important studies on the application of the Blockchain technology for tracking WEEE, on the eco-design of products and on the recovery and recycling of critical raw materials through projects financed by EIT Raw Materials, EIT Climate-KIC and Horizon 2020. P&Is experts are also involved in training initiatives aimed at schools and public events to raise awareness on the issues of climate change and energy efficiency.
Norner Research
Norner Research (NOR) is an institute dedicated to polymer research and development activities. It has a comprehensive scientific laboratory with proximately 50 employees, mainly researchers, laboratory engineers and market & technical consultants. The institute is a non-profit organization owned by the Norner Holding AS which is an independent innovation and technology holding founded in 2007. Norner has approximately 40 years background as a R&D centre for world’s leading petrochemical companies Equinor aka Statoil and Borealis.. NOR has leading expertise in the field of materials and polymers, including the whole plastics value chains from gas conversion to polymerisation, polymer modification, additives and REACH through to the implementation of plastics products both in dense and cellular applications.
Aalto University
Aalto University is a new university with centuries of experience, created from the merger of three Finnish universities in 2010: The Helsinki School of Economics, Helsinki University of Technology and The University of Art and Design Helsinki. The six schools of Aalto University are all leading and renowned institutions in their respective fields and in their own right. This combination opens up new possibilities for strong multi-disciplinary education and research, as well as creating a major impact on the society. Aalto University aims to build competitive edge by combining knowledge from different disciplines to identify and solve complex challenges, and to educate future visionaries and experts. Aalto University employs 4,200 persons, of which almost 400 are professors; more than half of the current professors are recruited after the merger in 2010. The number of students at bachelor’s and master’s level is 11,900 and 1,350 at the doctoral level (full-time equivalent, FTE). Aalto has extensive experience from coordinating and participating in hundreds of European R&D Framework Programme projects within various thematic programmes, and has professional support services for managing projects. Aalto is ranked 13th in the world in QS 2017 in the fields of Art and Design, and among 101 – 150 in materials science. The QS rankings by subject emphasise both the university's reputation in the world of academia and among employers, as well as research publications and references that they get. Furthermore, Aalto is ranked 14th in the world in the CWTS-Leiden Industry collaboration ranking. Aalto researchers published over 2,000 international peer-reviewed articles in scientific journal in 2015, and the crown indicator of the publications of the university is 1.52.
Coolrec
Coolrec is part of the Renewi group (formerly Van Gansewinkel and Shanks). Renewi is a major waste collection and treatment company in the Benelux area, UK and Canada. The vision of Renewi is ‘to be the leading waste-to-product company’. Our vision reflects our aspirations as well as our proud heritage. It shows how we close the circle between waste and product. We will seek to be the leading waste-to-product company for all our key stakeholders: customers, employees, communities and, of course, our shareholders. We will focus on making valuable products from waste, rather than on its disposal through mass burn incineration or landfill. This is perfectly summarised in our strapline: ‘Waste no more’. Established in 1991, Coolrec is the division within the group that recycles electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE), with recycling centres in the Netherlands, Belgium, France and Germany. The group has dedicated semi- and full-automatic processes for e.g. fridges, CRT and LCD screens, large and small household appliances, WEEE plastics and non-ferrous mixtures. Preparation for automated recycling, i.e. manual sorting and, or removal of dangerous components, is done on all locations. Besides that there are three teams dismantling appliances like server rooms, medical appliances, etc. on the site of the customer. Our recycled plastics are compounded in-house into new raw materials. With over 1.2 million fridges treated per year, in 4 dedicated plants, we are one of the largest recyclers of cooling and freezing appliances in the world. Furthermore we treat: 0,5 million CRT and LCD screens per year ; over 40.000 tonnes of large and small appliances per year ; and 30.000 tonnes of non-ferrous metals per year, from WEEE, metal shredders and from incineration bottom ash. In our plastics plant we treat around 55.000 tonnes per year, from own WEEE treatment as well as external material. We produce PP/PE, PS, HIPS and ABS. Since 2017 we produce PS and HIPS compounds tailormade for our customers.
