BIRSARE fishing net recycling project

Leartiker is taking part in a new collaborative innovation project that targets several Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), as it has a positive impact on areas such as health and well-being (SDG 3) and life below water (SDG 14).

It is the BIRSARE project, in which the technology centre is participating together with Aclima, Birziplastik, MIK, Plásticos Clossa and the CEP (Spanish Plastics Centre), with the aim of analysing and developing new circular value chains in the blue economy through the recycling of fishing nets.

The aim of this initiative is to generate the new knowledge that is required to develop data and information exchange tools, based on 4.0 technologies, which will serve to consolidate new recycling chains for used fishing nets.

In recent weeks, BIRSARE has been presented at several gatherings such as the CEP Proyectos online event organised on 22 November by the Spanish Plastics Centre to promote collaborative innovation projects. It was also featured at the third Basque Greentech Forum (29 November) held by the Basque Environmental Cluster, Aclima, which brought together the Basque Science and Technology Network (RVCT) and representatives from the environmental sector at the Bilbao Exhibition Centre (BEC).

Blanca Lekube, a researcher in the field of Sustainable Transport at Leartiker Polymer Technology and head of the BIRSARE project, gave both presentations, where she highlighted the focus of the initiative, which aims to boost the digitisation of recycling companies. For this purpose, all information concerning the recycling process, the development of materials and the manufacture of final demonstrators will be uploaded onto a digital platform that will ensure the traceability of the process and facilitate calculations for the life cycle assessment (LCA).

CircularSeas, a forerunner of BIRSARE

The BIRSARE project follows an earlier initiative in which Leartiker was involved until December last year. It was the CircularSeas Interreg Atlantic Area project, in which extensive work was carried out on the maritime waste value chain, along with an analysis of waste management in ports and the development of recycling processes for each type of waste.

The aim now is to further develop the fishing net recycling process, in which Leartiker will work together with the company Birziplastic, and to develop prototypes for furniture and automotive applications to demonstrate its technical, economic and environmental viability. This part of the project will be carried out by the company Clossa and the whole process will be evaluated through a life cycle assessment of the products by MIK.

The BIRSARE project has been funded by the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Tourism through the research support grant programme, with the aim of improving the competitiveness of SMEs, as part of the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan.