Teknos to move towards sustainable development and circular economy

Teknos is involved in the project called Recompose to identify the possibilities for exploiting the production side streams of one industrial manufacturer as raw material in another manufacturer's product, in line with circular economy principles. The project is being carried out in cooperation with three Finnish raw material manufacturers and seven other industrial producers. The institutions responsible for the project are VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, Finnish Environment Institute, and Lappeenranta University of Technology, and the project is financed by Business Finland.

One man’s waste is another man’s raw material

The project is driven by the desire to find beneficial use for industrial production side streams which are currently processed as waste. The aim is to commercialize and utilize the material to boost the circular economy.

Another important objective for the project is to find new, recycled raw materials suitable for commercial composite products. New raw materials would be used to further develop composite products made of recycled materials. These new materials are expected to improve product properties, such as strength, lightness, or visual appearance. Teknos is involved in the project with a by-product of powder coating manufacturing, currently incinerated in order to generate energy. 

Teknos has established also its own internal working group to enhance the material efficiency of production. At the Teknos factory in Poland, research has been carried out on utilising the side streams of powder coating production in Teknos’ own products, with positive results.

"Teknos uses its products to prolong product and material lifetime while studying new applications of renewable raw materials. It is important for us to produce less waste in our operations, for example, by process streamlining and identifying the possibilities for waste recovery. Teknos is participating in the Recompose project in order to turn dust waste from manufacture into raw material used in other materials," says Mark Artala, R&D Manager, Powder Coatings.

Fostering general knowledge

The common challenge for the companies involved is improving the usability of recycled raw materials and fostering knowledge. A study will be conducted on the side stream materials emerging from the project that are suitable as raw materials for the circular economy. This study will cover quality requirements and identify any material-related risks.

The objective of the project is to generate more generally suitable procedures for utilizing industrial side streams in composite products. These procedures will be the basis for a handbook for the Finnish industryon side stream commercialization. Finland seeks to profile itself as the leading country in circular economy, so this is a very hot topic. In addition to Teknos, companies involved in the project are UPM, Paroc Group Oy, Borealis Polymers Oy, Parlok Oy, Merocap Oy, All-Plast Oy, Finncont Oy, Destaclean Oy, and Wimao.

At their meeting in June, the representatives of the organizations involved in the Recompose project visited the Gallus technology and training center and were introduced to powder coating production.