The European Coating Show in Nürnberg is a hub for researchers, industry experts, and professionals to come together and discuss the latest advancements in coating and paint technology. It provided a platform to demonstrate the outcomes of the EU project DECOAT, aiming at enhancing the recycling of coated textiles and plastics by removing the coating at end-of-life.

A whole session during the European Coatings Show Conference on Monday March 27th was dedicated to DECOAT. This conference provides the ideal platform for DECOAT to present their work, gain feedback, and arouse the interest of industrial stakeholders. Starting from Tuesday, a DECOAT boot was hosted at the fair allowing all interested stakeholders to see demonstrators in real life, and gather additional information.

The DECOAT session at the European Coating Show Conference was a collaborative consortium effort with presentations of research institutes Centexbel (Belgium) and Aimplas (Spain), and companies Rescoll (France) and Ecomatters (The Netherlands). Centexbel (Guy Buyle), the project coordinator, gave an overview of the overall project, highlighting key results. Ine De Vilder (Centexbel) presented the work that has been done specifically on coated textiles, showing the feasibility to successfully debond textiles using either a triggerable primer layer or via a solvent based recycling process.

Rescoll (Maxime Olive), a company that produces an innovative triggerable primer called INDAR, showcased how their product can enhance the recycling process by enabling the coating removal process. INDAR allows coatings to be removed easily after a heat trigger and without damaging the substrate, making it an ideal solution for recycling. Aimplas (Vicent Martinez) presented their work on debonding of plastic substrates, and subsequent recycling of the waste plastics, using their mechanical recycling line.

Ecomatters (Brienne Wiersema), a company that specializes in sustainability assessment, provided a first look at the Eco-design tool that is being developed within the DECOAT project. This tool will enable companies to check which DECOAT-solutions could be useful for their specific products.

In conclusion, the DECOAT project’s presence at the European Coating Show is crucial for the further implementation of the developed solutions. All the interest expressed from industrial experts during the conference and the fair showed the importance of developing circular solutions, and the value of the DECOAT’s key results. For sure, a lot of highly valued contacts with industry have been established during the show and conference.