On 9th April 2025, at Rematec Amsterdam, RECREATE took part in a dynamic workshop titled “Enabling Circularity in Key EU Industries: Remanufacturing for Composites.” Organised jointly by APRA, Politecnico di Milano, and META Circularity as a part of the Challenge Circularity stream, the session involved four EU-funded projects: RECREATE, Remanet, ZEvRA and rEUman, and it was followed by an interactive group workshop in which participants elaborated on three selected topics, facilitated by experts involved in all four Horizon Europe initiatives.

In organising and facilitating the session, RECREATE partners from Politecnico di Milano, namely Gianmarco Griffini, from APRA Europe, Kirsten Lange and from META Circularity representatives Ivana Milivojević, Sebastian Žužek togheter and Jurij Giacomelli who moderated the event, provided valuble insights.

In the introductory part of the workshop, speakers shared insights on their respective projects related to the specific challenges to accelerate the uptake of remanufacturing practices in automotive industry and other sectors. More than 50 participants followed the workshop live at the REMATEC Fair in Amsterdam and online.

RECREATE’s coordinator Gianmarco Griffini, Associate Professor at Politecnico di Milano, detailed the initiative’s innovative approach to upcycling composites waste into high-value, sustainable resources that drive circularity in design for remanufacturing. RECREATE approaching the end of its third year, had already been demonstrating the enabling technologies in various industry contexts including automotive (both personal and passenger transportation), aerospace, wind farms and sports equipment.

Marcello Colledani from the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Politecnico di Milano presented two initiatives, rEUman, as its coordinator and ZEvRA. rEUman develops digitally enhanced, multi-level solutions for smart, human-centric remanufacturing, while ZEvRA exemplifies a harmonized circular economy methodology through innovative manufacturing technologies applied to a fully circular vehicle design. Chiara Cimino, Assistant Professor of the Department of Mechanical Engineering of Politecnico di Milano presented RemaNet, outlining its goal to drive a circular economy through a factory-integrated digital platform that streamlines supply-demand matching and shopfloor integration for enhanced remanufacturing and recycling. 

During the interactive workshop, participants delved into three important topics that address current challenges in designing for remanufacturing. The first topic referred to “Maintaining and Increasing the Value of End-of-Life Materials and Components by Leveraging Remanufacturing Business Models”. Participants debated how innovative design approaches can transform quality scrap and end-of-life components . The second topic was centred on “Incentivising Secondary Markets for Core Components”, The discussion explored ways to create incentive structures—both commercial and regulatory—that boost the reuse of components, ensuring they can re-enter the value chain efficiently and effectively. The third topic examined “Data Management, Traceability, and the Digital Product Passport: Implications for Remanufacturing”. Among the key conclusions from this final topic, the participants emphasised a vital role of synchronised, reliable data flows and the implementation of Digital Product Passports to enhance transparency and ensure the integrity of remanufactured products.

A summary of the workshop capturing its key findings is in preparation and will be shared with participants and other interested stakeholders of the four Horizon Europe initiatives. They will be particularly valuable in steering the projects’ workflows towards desired results, increasing their respective impacts, and shaping follow-up initiatives in the field of remanufacturing.

For more details on our approach and other initiatives, please visit websites of related initiatives:

• rEUman: https://www.reuman.eu/
• RECREATE Composites: https://www.recreatecomposites.eu/
• RemaNet: https://remanet-project.eu/
• ZEvRA: https://zevraproject.eu/

To learn more about upcoming activities and further insights from the Challenge Circularity stream, please visit the Challenge Circularity website.