Plastics and composites aren’t recycled as often as we might wish, as a result of a lack of facilities, the right technologies not yet existing or not being profitable, or hazardous waste deposits. IMT Nord Europe have been working in partnership with manufacturers to develop and improve the available technologies. Plastics and composites get a lot of bad press, but it …

Recovering untreated plastic materials and putting them back into the recycling loop through a decontamination line is the challenge of thesis research by Layla Gripon, a PhD student at IMT Lille Douai. These extraction methods contribute to a comprehensive approach to recovering plastic materials, in particular brominated plastics. High consumption of electronic devices implies a significant amount of waste to …

Producing high-quality raw materials from waste is contingent on effective sorting. Plastics from waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) are no exception. To help solve this problem, researchers at IMT Mines Alès have developed a selective automation algorithm designed for these plastics. It can be integrated in new industrial-scale sorting machines.   How will your coffee maker be reincarnated after …

Carbon fibre composite materials are increasingly widespread, and their use continues to rise every year. Recycling these materials remains difficult, but is nevertheless necessary at the European level for environmental, economic and legislative reasons. At IMT Mines Albi, researchers are working on a new method: vapo-thermolysis. While this process offers promising results, there are many steps to be taken before a …

How can we meet the needs for construction materials in an environmentally responsible manner? Recycling could be the solution, but it is not yet easy to create high-performance and eco-friendly materials using waste. At the conference on Natural Resources and Environment, which took place on November 5-6 2014 at Institut Mines-Télécom, Vincent Thiéry, a researcher at Mines Douai, presented two …

IMT Nord Europe | Materials, Composites, Plastics, Recycling, Ecological transition

Reducing the environmental impact of waste and encouraging its reuse calls for a new approach to its management. This requires the modeling of circuits on a territorial scale, and the improvement of collaboration between public and private actors. Territorial waste management is one of the fundamental aspects of the circular economy. Audrey Tanguy,1 a researcher at Mines Saint-Étienne, is devoting …

Bio-based materials are an alternative to those derived from fossil resources. They have been increasingly promoted in recent years. However, given the recent development of this sector, their real environmental impact is still relatively unknown. Joana Beigbeder, researcher in environmental analysis at IMT Mines Alès, provides an update on the life cycle analysis (LCA) of these emerging materials. Although bio-based materials …

To implement a robust and durable circular economy strategy, it is important to assess its environmental impacts. Valérie Laforest and Natacha Gondran, both researchers at Mines Saint-Étienne, explain the reasons for incorporating an absolute environmental sustainability assessment method and the underlying concept of “environmental budgeting“.   The lifestyles of our contemporary societies are exerting constant and unsustainable pressure on the …