From Waste to Worth: LTU Leads International Consortium in Circular Material Innovation

Luleå University of Technology (LTU) is leading a new initiative called the W2W-Composites project. This Interreg NPA project focuses on turning regional industrial waste into useful, high-quality materials for the Northern Periphery and Arctic region. Launched in March 2026, the project connects two related efforts: SUSBICO (Interreg Aurora), which works on new bio-based resins and recycling methods, and Bio2Print (Interreg NPA), which develops bio-fiber composites for 3D printing.

The project coordinator, Roberts Joffe, Chair Professor in Polymeric Composite Materials at LTU, says “The initiative aims to make better use of regional waste materials. By bringing the two projects together, it creates a “waste-to-worth” system where different types of waste are turned into new materials.” By combining waste-based fibers with bio-based resins, the partners want to show that sustainable manufacturing is not just an idea, but something that can work in real industry. Ultimately, clustering Interreg projects helps use resources more efficiently by bringing related initiatives together, allowing them to share knowledge, avoid duplication, and achieve stronger results collectively.

W2W-Composites focuses on practical results. Within a year, the project will produce small-scale pilots in the lab. These include composite laminates that will demonstrate the strength and potential of bio-based materials.

The international team, LTU, the University of Oulu, Centria University of Applied Sciences, and FutureCast/AMT, will also create a “stakeholder map” to help bring these solutions to the municipalities and companies that can benefit from them. With its focus on recycling and the circular use of materials, the project addresses an important topic and stays closely connected to developments in the Nordic bioeconomy.

As the technical teams begin refining how the first pilot materials are produced, the project is also working in more collaborative ways. By using combination of shared digital platforms, webinars with on-site meetings and workshops, the partners are making it easier to move from lab results to real production. The first in-person meeting is planned for June 2026 in Oulu, where W2W-Composites partners will develop detailed action plan to reach project goal: to show that high-performance materials can be made from resources that were once considered waste.