Europe is the second world producer of pulp and paper, manufacturing 130 million tonnes in 2014 and representing 23% of world production. The EU pulp and paper manufacturing and converting industries generate an annual turnover of €180 billion, representing 1,26% of the European GDP. In particular, the Pulp and Paper industry (PPI) has a turnover of €75 billion, comprises 920 plants and provides 180,000 jobs in Europe directly, and 1.5 million in the value chain. This sector is resource intensive and produces 11 million tonnes of waste yearly . It has been found that 25-40% of municipal solid waste generated each year worldwide is paper-related. Furthermore, Europe is nowadays facing the challenge of resource scarcity and more efficient use. If managed in a sustainable manner, PPI waste can become a valuable raw material for other resource intensive industries such as the construction (i.e 5,4 billion tonnes of raw material consumption) or the chemical industry (1 billion tonnes). Mining industry waste generation is estimated at up to 20.000 million tons of solid waste yearly, and relevant part of this waste needs to be kept in environmental safety conditions, which in turn implies additional use of resources (e.g borrow materials). New widespread markets are needed to extend the valorisation operations, reduce the landfilling rates and increase the competitiveness of the PPIs creating new added value markets for their inorganic waste. The overall objective of PAPERCHAIN is to deploy five novel circular economy models centred in the valorisation of the waste streams generated by the PPI as secondary raw material for a number of resource intensive sectors: construction sector, mining sector and chemical industry. PAPERCHAIN aims to unlock the potential of a resource efficient model based on industrial symbiosis which will demonstrate the potential of the major non-hazardous waste streams generated by the PPI as valuable secondary raw material.

The main objective of NeoCel project is to develop innovative and techno-economically feasible alkaline processes enabling the sustainable production of higher quality eco-innovative textile fibres from reactive high-cellulose pulps and integration of these processes with pulp mills. Targets for the development of NeoCel processes are: - wet strength of fibres higher than the wet strength of standard viscose, competing with cotton properties. - lower environmental impact than any other type of existing textile fibre - Reduction of production cost by at least 15% compared to that of best available technology (BAT) viscose The targets will be met through development of adapted pulps with high reactivity/solubility in alkaline water-based solutions, advanced dissolution process to maximize cellulose concentration, novel cellulose regeneration chemistry enabling both recovery of process chemicals and increased strength properties of the spun fibre, design for integration of textile fibre production with the pulp mill for minimized environmental impact, increased energy efficiency and reduced chemical consumption through system analysis using software models of theoretical mills. In NeoCel, a consortium with raw material processing companies, chemical suppliers, equipment producers, SMEs and world-leading research institutes has formed to develop the processes for large scale manufacturing of eco-innovative textile fibres. The consortium expects that a successful NeoCel project will enable creation of 75 000 new jobs and a turn-over increase of 9.5 billion € for European forest products, textile and clothing industries within 15 years. However, already within 3 years, the consortium partners expect their joint turnover to increase by 170 MEuro