The event kicked off with a warm welcome from Tilla Kross, Sustainability Programmes Officer at Textile ETP, a platform that helps its members connect, collaborate, and tap into EU funding.
For those new to the community, Tilla intorduced ECOSYSTEX – a growing cluster of 60 projects and over 385 registered experts. The aim? To build a lasting expert network and create a central hub where EU-funded research and innovation can find real-world application in textile sustainability.
Following, Simone Maccaferri, Project Officer at CBE JU, set the stage with opening remarks on how CBE JU is funding projects that turn biomass and waste into innovative, circular, and sustainable products—like the kind showcased in this session. And with that the showcasing of projects could commence.
Bio-LUSH’s Vision for Sustainable Fibres
Vinicius Lobosco from PaperPlat presented Bio-LUSH’s approach to biomass valorisation. He highlighted the untapped potential of agricultural and forestry residues as sustainable alternatives to crops like eucalyptus or acacia for pulp production.
Pulp remains a high-demand product (approx. 180 Mt/year), but current processes rely heavily on resource-intensive crops and high-cost infrastructure. Vinicius explained that residues could meet part of this demand—without using extra land, water, or fertilisers—and in some cases, deliver pulp of comparable quality.
One of the biggest challenges is that residues are seasonal, scattered, and inconsistent, which makes it difficult to scale industrial processes. A key insight he shared:
“Residue is abundant—until it becomes a raw material. Then it’s scarce.”
To address this, Bio-LUSH is developing a low-capex, flexible process that can work at a small scale and close to the source of the biomass. Early results show good fibre quality from hemp residues. The team is now designing the process and equipment, and is working on techno-economic assessments (OPEX and CAPEX).
Other Highlights
The POLYMERS-5B project presented their work on developing new biobased polymers using food processing residues (like tomato and olive waste) and lignin derivatives. Using machine learning and SSbD (Safe and Sustainable by Design), they aim to produce competitive bio-based textile materials.
pHYBi introduced a different angle—using phytomanagement (growing plants on marginal lands) as a way to generate lignocellulosic feedstock for high-value textile applications.
Together, these projects are reimagining what textiles can be made from, proving that Europe’s future fibres might just be hiding in yesterday’s harvest—or in places we’ve long overlooked.
A big thank you to ECOSYSTEX for hosting and making it possible to explore the many ways biomass can power Europe’s shift toward more sustainable textiles.
If you missed this insightful event, the full video is now online at ECOSYSTEX‘s YouTube channel:
