The saying “One man’s waste is another man’s treasure” has never been truer.
The Material Match Making platform is the thread that links materials and technology needs.
Every year we produce a large amount of textile waste with little possibility of recycling and recovery, as well as high disposal costs. This is why we decided to participate in the European project Life M3P – Material Match Making, which aims to create a database of waste materials from companies in different sectors, made available to everyone to find the perfect solution to every creative need and give a second life to industrial waste. The Life M3P project – co-funded by the European Commission – aims to study and implement an online platform to promote the exchange of industrial waste/waste between companies in manufacturing districts. The Life M3P project involves 4 European regions – Lombardy (Italy), Flanders (Belgium), West Macedonia (Greece), Asturias (Spain) – with the ultimate goal of demonstrating and testing a territorial model of industrial waste management in order to promote Industrial Symbiosis. Through the proposed model, the project aims to boost the overall efficiency of industrial processes in the target areas by increasing the use of industrial waste by reducing its landfilling, storage and transportation. The implementation and use of the online platform will fill the information gap regarding the industrial waste produced in a local area, through a systematic approach geared toward the life cycle of products and the material chain required to make them.
Specifically, the partnership-composed of entities from Italy, Belgium, Spain and Greece-is aimed at enhancing local networks for improving industrial waste management, promoting its use in other local enterprises and reducing the need for treatment, storage, transportation and consequent environmental impact.