Interwaste

“Second-life” products made from waste materials from the eyewear, furniture and wood industries

Project goals & contents:

The InterWASTE project aims to find alternative uses for production waste from the eyewear, furniture and wood industries, which are deep-rooted industrial sectors in the programme area. The project focuses on waste from eyewear production (such as wood chips and ceramics), which currently ends up in landfills and incineration plants, as well as stone dust from processing in the furniture industry and various waste from the wood industry (bark, sawdust), which currently remains unused. It will be investigated how this waste can be managed to produce new innovative materials for sustainable outdoor and indoor applications as well as for eyeglass frames (or parts thereof). During the course of the project, life cycle assessments will be created for the newly developed composites and laminates in order to analyse and optimise their impact on the environment compared to “traditional” products. In order to ensure circular production processes, tests are carried out with regard to the recyclability and biodegradability of the new products. The project will help to reduce the impact of the involved industrial sectors on the environment, move towards the UN Sustainable Development Goals and create new business areas.