The Project
a Circular
Journey
Transforming waste into
sustainable materials
The project brings together 23 beneficiaries and 2 affiliated entities from 9 European countries, combining expertise in waste management, biotechnology, material development, product manufacturing, research, sustainability, policy, market uptake and regional replication. SOWISE+ will take its core technologies to TRL8, targeting a production capacity of around 230 tonnes of PHBV per year and up to 700 tonnes of high-quality recovered cellulose per year.
SOWISE+ is a five-year European project that aims to demonstrate a new circular model for transforming urban waste into valuable bio-based materials and products. At the centre of the project is a first-of-its-kind multipurpose flagship biorefinery in Italy, where urban biowaste will be converted into PHBV, while cellulose recovered from post-consumer absorbent hygiene products will be further purified and upcycled for new industrial uses.
Beyond technical demonstration, SOWISE+ will develop and validate new bio-based materials and applications, assess their safety and sustainability, engage stakeholders and citizens, and explore the conditions needed to replicate the model in other European regions. The overall ambition is to show how urban waste can become a resource for new circular value chains, supporting more efficient resource use and wider uptake of bio-based solutions across Europe.