Trash-2-Cash Project: Second Milestone Report D9.3

Trash-2-Cash is an EU funded project under the Horizon 2020 research programme. The project started in June 2015 and will be running until November 2018. It is applying Design-Driven Material Innovation (DDMI) as tool for the development routes within design, material research and manufacturing of new materials, services and products. The overall objective of the Trash-2-Cash project is to develop new materials and products via creative design from waste materials and industrial side or by-products from the textile and paper industries and to promote development within the creative sector by providing technology solutions for exploitation of waste streams and design for recycling. 18 partners from 10 countries have formed a cross-disciplinary team of designers, material researchers, and manufacturers and in combination with the specialist on behavioural research and cost and environmental assessments they constitute the full consortium. Having all of these specialists on board means that waste materials can be used to create new fibres that can be spun and woven, knitted or formed, into high performance textiles and composites, which can then be made into innovative new products. The full chain is represented within the project.

The design team drives the material innovation in close collaboration with the material R&D and manufacturer teams. The project flow has three iterative phases called “Cycles” that repeat specific steps. The end/beginning of each Cycle corresponds with a milestone, the delivery of prototypes. The Second Milestone has now been reached for the Trash-2-Cash project by finalizing the second Cycle, Cycle B, meaning that we have produced the second set of prototypes. These are smaller pieces of material of regenerated cellulose fibres and regenerated polyester fibres that have been made from waste materials. The prototypes produced during Cycle B will be evaluated by Life Cycle Assessments to facilitate communication of the potential of the future product. The perception by the potential consumer by recycled products has been evaluated through consumer behavioural research. The prototypes will be further developed during the final Cycle of the project, the refinement Cycle (Cycle C), in order to refine the material samples into product prototypes. The DDMI approach gives the design team the assignment to influence the further development of these materials into high quality products.