Fondazione Università Ca’ Foscari in SOWISE+, a European project for the valorisation of organic waste

Sustainability, ESG Models & Environmental Studies

Fondazione Università Ca’ Foscari Venezia and the Department of Environmental Sciences, Informatics and Statistics of Università Ca’ Foscari Venezia will participate in SOWISE+, a European project coordinated by Contarina, an environmental services management company operating in the Province of Treviso. Over a five-year period, the project will involve 25 partners from nine countries in developing new solutions to transform the organic fraction of municipal waste into sustainable bio-based materials throughout their entire life cycle. The University’s and the Foundation’s participation will focus in particular on the development of the demonstration biorefinery to be built at Contarina’s facility in Trevignano, in the Province of Treviso. It will be the first facility in Europe to apply this organic waste valorisation system on an industrial scale. The project is co-funded by the Circular Bio-based Europe Joint Undertaking, a partnership between the European Union and the Bio-based Industries Consortium, and has a total project budget of approximately €25 million.

Integrated into the system already used by Contarina for the treatment of organic waste and the production of biomethane, the biorefinery will enable the organic fraction obtained from local separate waste collection to undergo additional transformation processes, thereby producing new materials from the same resource. A first production line will produce PHBV through microbial synthesis in mixed culture: a biologically derived and fully biodegradable polymer that can be used in the production of compostable packaging, in 3D printing, and in the agricultural, construction and biomedical sectors. A second production line will instead be dedicated to recovering the cellulose contained in used nappies, sanitary pads and other hygiene products, making it possible to reuse it in the production of new bio-based products.

The Knowledge Transfer Area of Fondazione Università Ca’ Foscari Venezia, through its C4S (Center4Sustainability) competence centre, will support the Department of Environmental Sciences, Informatics and Statistics throughout the different stages of the biorefinery’s development, from design to full operation, providing support for project activities and contributing to performance assessment and the sustainability analysis of the technical solution. Università Ca’ Foscari Venezia’s involvement will also include coordinating the application of the Safe and Sustainable by Design framework, through which the products developed within SOWISE+ will be assessed by jointly considering safety for human health and the environment, environmental impacts, and economic and social effects. The assessment will examine the entire life cycle of the products, from raw material sourcing and production through to use and end-of-life management. This will make it possible to identify any critical issues at an early stage and guide technological choices towards the alternatives offering the best overall performance in terms of safety, sustainability and circularity.

SOWISE+ will also enable knowledge and technologies developed through research to be transferred into a production environment and integrated with infrastructure that is already operational. It will also assess the possibility of replicating the model in other European regions. The process will involve businesses, public authorities, waste management operators, local communities and public policy decision-makers, with the aim of encouraging the adoption of the technologies developed and the creation of circular value chains based on the resources available in local areas.

The project was funded by: