Online seminar:
Scaling Circular Materials
– Technologies and Opportunities for Material Sourcing, Smart Sorting and High‑Value Reuse and Recycling

There is a growing urgency for high‑performance bio‑based packaging solutions in the food and beverage industry. Current solutions, based on biopolymers or natural fibers pose challenges with respect to material sourcing, logistics, performance and largely neglect of end-of-life scenarios. Agricultural waste fibers are a vast untapped local source of cellulose fibers with 1 year circularity loop with high potential for application within the packaging industry.
The HiProBio project, coordinated by DTU Construct, aims at transforming agricultural waste into one-year looped sustainable, biodegradable food packaging solutions that preserves our forests and support local economies.
This presentation will outline the key technological aspects to reach the project goals as well as the opportunities towards the implementation of a truly circular packaging industry.

Bornholm is working towards becoming a zero-waste society by 2032. However, as an island, traditional economies of scale for recycling, sorting, and material processing rarely apply.
This talk presents how BOFA operates not as a technology provider, but as a platform for testing, adapting, and scaling circular solutions in real-world conditions. Through initiatives such as the innovation platform Zero Waste Bornholm and participation in EU and national innovation projects, BOFA connects companies, researchers, and public actors to co-develop practical solutions. These range from decentralized material processing to new collection and sorting approaches. Examples include local brick reuse systems and exploration of modular sorting setups for complex waste streams.
Participants will gain insight into how waste operators can act as innovation partners, market makers, and public buyers. This bridges the gap between promising technologies and actual implementation.

Come inside NewRetex’s work with automated textile sorting technologies and its role in enabling circularity. Learn how sensors—such as near-infrared, X-ray and imaging systems—work together with AI to classify and sort textile waste at industrial scale. You will see how continuous data collection and machine learning improves performance over time, making sorting both smarter and more adaptable.
Ultimately, the presentation explores how intelligent sorting can turn textile waste into valuable resources.

This talk provides an overview of TOMRA Sorting’s advanced sensor‑based technologies and their role in enabling high‑quality recycling across diverse material streams. Participants will gain insights into the sorting capabilities for plastics, mixed waste, and metals, along with challenges that can affect sorting performance and how some of these can be addressed through AI‑supported approaches.
A special focus is placed on ongoing investigations into the separability of bioplastic materials, highlighting both technological potential and current limitations. The talk also outlines how companies beyond large‑scale sorting facilities can benefit from TOMRA’s solutions.
Attendees will leave with a clearer understanding of how sensor‑based sorting contributes to circular material flows and more resilient recycling systems.