Innovative circular solutions for end-of-life footwear through collection, sorting and recycling
Forthcoming
Status as published by the data source.
Expected Outcome:
Project results are expected to contribute to all of the following expected outcomes:
• all relevant stakeholders, including consumers, economic and social economy operators and waste managers, have an improved understanding of the technical, environmental, economic and social challenges and benefits to circularity in the footwear industry;
• economic operators and waste managers are provided with evidence-based, innovative, cost-effective, and scalable solutions that improve the management of end-of-life footwear products, valorise post-consumer footwear waste materials and increase the circularity of the value chain;
• consumers have access to user-friendly solutions to correctly dispose of end-of-life footwear, thus reducing landfill, improving sustainability practices, supporting them in making more conscious choices, and contributing to climate change mitigation and adaptation by reducing waste and promoting circular economy practices. Scope:
The transition to a circular economy requires innovative solutions to manage end-of-life products, including footwear, which can have significant environmental and climate impacts if landfilled and not properly collected, sorted, and recycled. In line with the EU's ambitious circular economy targets and policies, such as the Waste Framework Directive and the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation, this topic aims at improving the circularity of the footwear value chain and reducing the environmental footprint of end-of-life post-consumer footwear, whilst promoting a more regenerative and restorative approach to the footwear value chain and the stakeholders involved.
Proposals should:
• assess the technical, environmental, economic and social challenges and benefits linked to the transition of the footwear industry towards circularity, particularly in the collection, sorting and recycling of post-consumer footwear waste;
• develop and test new methods and technologies that facilitate the collection, sorting, preparation for reuse and recycling of post-consumer footwear products, integrating digital tools (including AI) and the use of the Digital Product Passport to enable reuse and recycling, and minimise the release of hazardous chemicals and microplastics during the recycling process;
• explore and develop innovative business models that enable the transition towards a circular and sustainable footwear value chain, promote the uptake of design for preparing for reuse and recycling, enable the development of take-back solutions and stimulate informed consumer choices and sustainable consumption patterns;
• develop and test innovative solutions that facilitate the collaboration between the relevant stakeholders, including footwear manufacturers, retailers, consumers and waste managers, to ensure the effectiveness and uptake of the proposed solutions, including strategies for managing hazardous chemicals and microplastics in footwear waste. Successful proposals should bring together all relevant stakeholders active in the footwear value chain, namely industry representatives, SMEs, brand owners, producers, retailers, local authorities, waste managers, economic operators, consumer organisations, researchers, and NGOs.
The topic supports EU policies, particularly the European Green Deal, the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation and its working plan, as well as the zero pollution action plan. The proposed solutions should also be consistent with the Waste Framework Directive, the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) for textiles, the Clean Industrial Deal and the EU Circular Economy Act, supporting Europe’s efforts to develop a single market for sustainable products.
This topic requires the effective contribution of SSH disciplines and the involvement of SSH experts, institutions as well as the inclusion of relevant SSH expertise, in order to produce meaningful and significant effects enhancing the societal impact of the related research activities.
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Activities are expected to achieve TRL 4-5 by the end of the project – see General Annex B. Activities may start at any TRL.
- Status
- Forthcoming
- Deadline
- (time not stated)
- Opens
- Published
- Total budget
- €9,000,000
- Grant range
- €4,000,000 – €5,000,000
- Country
- European Union (EU-wide)
- Programme
- Horizon Europe (HORIZON)
- Official page
- Open at the source portal
Other calls under Horizon Europe (HORIZON)
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- Advanced Distribution Management Systems (ADSM) for more efficient and flexible distribution grids
- Community of practice - Data-Driven Decision-Making in Energy
- Industrial processes and equipment for innovative, reliable and scalable tandem technologies (EUPI-PV Partnership)
- Integrated Approaches for Retrofitting Infrastructures with Innovative Energy Storage Technologies
- Demonstration of hydropower technologies for efficient and forward-looking refurbishment of existing hydropower plants
- Delivery of industrial CCUS clusters – Societal Readiness pilot
All calls under this programme
Similar opportunities
- Advancing recycling technologies for mixed post-consumer textiles waste from blended products
- Advancing circular logistics solutions in cities
- Demonstrating and deploying innovative collection, sorting-for-reuse and repair systems for textiles at city/region level (Circular Cities and Regions Initiative topic)
- Capacity building for extending product lifecycles through repair and refurbishment
- Circular solutions for textile value chains through innovative sorting, recycling, and design for recycling
- Innovative circular solutions for furniture
Where this came from
- Source document
- https://ec.europa.eu/info/funding-tenders/opportunities/data/topicDetails/horizon-cl6-2027-01-circbio-05.json
- Document fingerprint
da80e03ffd6e0c48(SHA-256, first 16 hex characters)- Retrieved
- First recorded here
What has changed
- url first recorded as https://ec.europa.eu/info/funding-tenders/opportunities/portal/screen/opportunities/topic-details/horizon-cl6-2027-01-circbio-05 on
- currency first recorded as EUR on
- amount_max first recorded as 5000000.00 on
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- budget_total first recorded as 9000000.00 on
- deadline first recorded as 2027-09-22 on
- opens_on first recorded as 2027-04-20 on
- published_on first recorded as 2025-12-12 on
- status_basis first recorded as source_status on
- status first recorded as forthcoming on
- title first recorded as Innovative circular solutions for end-of-life footwear through collection, sorting and recycling on
Data source
© European Union, 2026. Source: EU Funding & Tenders Portal. Reused under Commission Decision 2011/833/EU — CC BY 4.0.
Retrieved from the source on .
The source last updated this document on Mon, 02 Mar 2026 09:37:43 GMT.
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