UNLOCK – Releasing the potential of feathers to foster circularity in agriculture
The bio-based products created will be tailored to the needs of the agriculture sector, with the creation of seed trays, nonwoven geotextiles, mulch films and hydroponic foams.
As feathers contain nearly 90% keratin, the innovative materials arising from this new value chain will present additional advantages at the end of the product’s life: keratin-based materials are targeted to be zero waste and allow for controlled biodegradability, while also enriching soils with organic nitrogen.
To do so, UNLOCK will work on four different technical processes, depending on the type of end products desired: mechanical treatment, steam explosion, microbial fermentation and chemical hydrolysis.
And to prepare the market uptake of this innovative value chain, regional Clusters are going to be created in 3 of the biggest EU poultry countries (France, Poland, and Spain). There, series of participative workshops and other events will be organised to engage with the different stakeholders.
Check the project website
Project Coordinator
- Fundación Cidetec, Spain
Project Partners
- Cedrob Spolka Akcyjna, Poland
- General Hydroponics Europe, France
- Bioextrax Ab, Sweden
- Bio-mi Drustvo s Ogranicenom Odgovornoscu za Proizvodnju, Istrazivanjei Razvoj, Croatia
- Nuevas Tecnologías Para el Desarrollo de Packaging y Productos Agroalimentarios con Componente Plástica SL, Spain
- Farrelly and Mitchell Business Consultants Limited, Ireland
- Organic Waste Systems NV, Belgium
- Inkoa Sistemas SL, Spain
- Siec Badawcza Lukasiewicz - Instytut Biopolimerow i Wlokien Chemicznych, Poland
- Aimplas - Asociación de Investigación de Materiales Plásticos y Conexas, Spain
- Rise Processum AB, Sweden
- Fundacja unimos, Poland
- Greenovate! Europe, Belgium
- Associacio Comarcal Urgell d'Ajuda al Minusvalid, Spain