RECOPPs project, funded by EIT Raw Materials celebrated its first Training Course last 14th and 15th of July. An elite panel of researchers and industrial professionals from around Europe gathered in this event to discuss the pioneer implementation of circularity and resource recovery practices in industrial research and innovation.
The online event, supported by Barcelona Tech-UPC, OpenInno Train and Recirucla Hub UPC, meant the first public introduction of RECOPPs project since its Kick-Off meeting last April. It also meant the launch of the educational activities related to Work Package 5 of the project, Educational Training. With 49 participants during the two-day sessions, the event was considered a success, a positive start to the educational activities and a precursor to future events, still to be determined.
The Training Course was kicked off by PI and Coordinator of RECOPPs, Dr. Patricia Córdoba, who gave the attendees a brief overview of the investigation that led to the upscaling proposal and the current situation of the project, which entails two recovery protocols of Bismuth and Antimony from the waste generated during Copper production with the integrated removal of Arsenic. The presentation followed a statement of the projects beliefs and aims, highly linked to accomplishing the European Commission’s sustainable policies and a more inclusive and respectful European society.
Following the agenda on point, the event offered a variety of speeches going from the political situation of Raw Materials in the European Union, by the hand of Dr. Elena Garbarino, external expert at Joint Research Center-EC; followed by research studies aimed to recover resources, such as Rare Earth elements from Acid Mine Drainage, by the hand of Prof. Carlos Ayora, from IDAEA-CSIC; to social initiatives aiming to promote circularity like “La Taca d’Oli” project, introduced by Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya student, Romina del Portillo.
The event concluded successfully, as stated by RECOPPs coordinated, Dr.Patricia Córdoba:
“RECOPPs Summer Training Course has been the first open event to the public and the attendance rate has been better than expected. We are more than pleased to see the positive attitude of the students towards this course, especially considering the summer holidays. I want to thank the speakers and the organization, as well, for putting together such engaging presentations, definitely enriching for the students. As for RECOPPs, we will hold our Annual Workshop at the end of this year in which our team will present results obtained so far. We expect the turn up to be as good as the one in our Training Course.”