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From May 23 to 25, 2022, EIT RawMaterials hosted the 4th RawMaterials Summit in Berlin and brought together speakers from the European Commission and EU Parliament, the United Nations Economic Commission, NGOs, mining executives, recycling, circular economy, education, research leaders and investors to discuss current pressing issues of the raw materials sector.

Several actors of the LIFE PlasPLUS project participated to the event during which Philippe Giaro (University of Liège) was an invited panelist in the May 24^th session titled : “How can we maximize on the opportunities of circularity in raw materials ?”. The panel was shared with representatives from VEOLIA, ENEL Group, International Synergies Ltd, Hydro Aluminum Metal as well as with Mr. Reinhard Butikofer, Member of the European Parliament. In his address, Philippe Giaro outlined the six promising sectors for the circular economy in Wallonia which notably include plastic materials and metallurgy.

The implementation of a circular business model for these two sectors is in line with the holistic approach of LIFE PLasPLUS to simultaneously close the loop for two traditionally siloed material value chains, plastics and minerals, and which aims to improve the recycling of high-quality secondary thermoplastic and critical raw materials coming from mixed Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) and End-of-Life Vehicles (ELV).

The panel triggered the visit of numerous summit participants to the Walloon region booth on the site for the event and where sampled of recycled plastics where on display. The EIT CEO and Managing Director remarked in his follow-up open letter that recycled metals will play a critical role in the Green Transition, that we need closing material loops by limiting exports of recyclable metals out of Europe, and that we must foster industrial symbiosis. These are all central themes to the LIFE PLasPLUS project which is in the process of demonstrating a circular approach to the societal management of high-quality secondary thermoplastic and antimony, a critical raw metal on top of the European Union’s latest Critical Raw Materials list.

For more information on LIFE PlasPLUS check out the rest of our website at: https://www.lifeplasplus.eu/.

Stay tuned for the next LIFE PlasPLUS events !