On this year’s International Day of Zero Waste, we are spotlighting 3 EIC-funded projects (EIC Pathfinder EVERGLASS project, EIC Accelerator STOP WASTIN’ ME project and EIC Transition PureSurf project), which have the potential to revolutionise different industries through novel solutions addressing critical industrial waste management challenges and soil pollution.
EVERGLASS: Leading the paradigm shift in glass recycling
A EIC Pathfinder project, coordinated by the University of Vigo (Spain): innovative recycling technology for glass waste
With the current average rate of 80.1% of glass bottles and jars collected for recycling in Europe, as of now, glass cannot be recycled integrally. An additional issue lies in the reliance of traditional recycling methods on energy-intensive furnaces or molds.
To face this sustainability challenge of the glass industry, the EVERGLASS team is pioneering a laser technology enabling the process glass waste into new materials.
The ultimate goal? A scalable, eco-friendly system that reduces waste and energy consumption while offering a customisable approach to recycling and new possibilities for glass manufacturing.
Everglass partner wins Joseph von Fraunhofer Prize 2024
The EIC-backed EVERGLASS project reached a turning point in July 2024, when one of its partners, the Fraunhofer Institute for Industrial Mathematics ITWM (Germany), was awarded the 2024 Joseph von Fraunhofer Prize for MESHFREE, an innovative simulation tool developed by the researchers.
The MESHFREE simulation tool will be pivotal in predicting how the glass laser transformation, the innovative recycling process pioneered by EVERGLASS, will work. Through the MESHFREE simulation tool, the EIC-funded project will optimize the laser recycling process, ensuring efficiency and effectiveness while minimising costly real-world trials.
STOP WASTIN’ ME: Innovative solutions for the recovery and reuse of valuable materials in wastewater
EIC Accelerator project, coordinated by Circular Materials (Italy): a unique circular approach for the valorisation of critical raw materials
To cope with the more than 2,000 tons of materials released in industrial wastewater every year, the Italian start-up Circular Materials has developed a groundbreaking technology enabling the treatment of a typology of wastewater previously untreatable by standard physical-chemical plants.
Led by the vision of a world in which materials are considered valuable resources and their recovery and reuse are the norm rather than the exception, Circular Materials’ patented technology provides a dual solution: on the one hand, preventing the dispersion of resources with high extraction impact while, on the other, recovering valuable materials extremely expensive to import as well as to process.
Circular Materials tops WIRED Italia’s list of Most Innovative Startups in 2025
“Crucial for the energy transition”: as reported in WIRED’s dedicated article, with such a recognition of its efforts aimed at recovering and valorising critical metals and raw materials since 2019 – the year of its founding – in January 2025, Circular Materials was recognised as “the first among the 10 most innovative startups to watch in 2025”.
Following the first operational plant in Padua in 2024, capable of treating 3,000 tons of wastewater per year, the Italian startup’s next step is that of building one with a capacity of up to 20,000 tons per year.
PureSurf: Creating surfactants for a sustainable future
EIC Transition project, coordinated by the University of Graz (Austria): switching from fossil-based to bio-based surfactants
In line with Circular Materials’ vision, the PureSurf team, consisting of leading experts in green chemistry, engineering and business with a strong industrial network, is driven by the mission of reducing the dependencies of numerous industries on fossil fuels by turning waste into a resource.
However, the novel product the team is striving to commercialise is waste-based, renewable surfactants, the primary component of detergents. Due to the lack of novel technologies in this area, the valorisation of renewable waste streams for the delivery of such products has not been exploited so far.
Committed to bridge this gap, the Austrian-based team aims to implement breakthrough technologies into current manufacturing practices, building on the success of the previous ERC PoC PURE project thanks to which novel green surfactants were obtained, resulting in two patent applications.
PureSurf’s recent achievements and future prospects
PureSurf’s recent achievements have included the selection of Katalin Barta, project lead, as one of the top 100 female innovators in the German-speaking region by SHEconomy.
In addition, PureSurf was recently assigned the Phönix price by the Federal Ministry for Digital and Economic Affairs and the Federal Ministry of Education, Science and Research, in the category “prototype”.
In the longer term, the multidisciplinary PureSurf team aims to establish a spin-off company and become frontrunner in bio-based surfactants.
About EVERGLASS
EVERGLASS, coordinated by the University of Vigo, will create new technology using lasers allowing for the integral recycling of all kinds of glass. Supported by the EIC Pathfinder, EVERGLASS is pioneering glass recycling and manufacturing, allowing glass waste to be transformed into new tailored products.
Learn more about EVERGLASS by visiting the Horizon Europe database and the official company website.
About STOP WASTIN’ ME
STOP WASTIN’ ME is a project funded by the European Innovation Council (EIC) under the EIC Accelerator scheme. It supports the development of sustainable technology to remove and recover heavy metals present in industrial wastewaters. The project is managed by Circular Materials whose mission is to build unique solutions capable of innovating the critical and strategical raw materials recovery.
Find more information about the project STOP WASTIN’ ME by visiting the Horizon Europe database and the official company website.
About PureSurf
PureSurf, coordinated by the University of Graz, will produce innovative high-performance bio-based surfactants from underutilised renewable waste streams. Supported by the EIC Transition, PureSurf is designing green manufacturing routes and bio-based surfactants to support the transition to a circular economy.
Learn more about PureSurf by visiting the Horizon Europe database and the official company website.
About the EIC GHG Tool
The EIC offers its beneficiaries a dedicated GHG tool, GHG Badges and the CO2 Neutral Label initiative, and further resources to help mitigate their CO2 emissions.
In addition, co-creation activities with corporates, industrial associations, regions in carbon transition and EIC beneficiaries are taking place on a regular basis.
DISCLAIMER: This information is provided in the interest of knowledge sharing and should not be interpreted as the official view of the European Commission, or any other organisation.