AVE – Environmental Management and Energy Valorization carried out awarded the study to 3Drivers: “Coprocessing – Material recovery of alternative fuels in the cement industry”. A pioneering project that had as partners Sociedade Ponto Verde, Valorpneu and Valorcar.

It was intended to support the sustainability of the coprocessing solution, by evaluating the material recovery index of the waste associated with the waste coprocessing process. Based on this project, AVE – Gestão Ambiental e Valorização Energética was able to support the arguments for establishing the difference between incineration and co-processing in Portugal.

When developing a methodology that allows calculating the fraction that is valued both energetically and materially, the study allows these values to be incorporated into the recycling rate of each stream.

The study shows that the coprocessing of waste used tires could have contributed about 8% to the fulfillment of the recycling targets for this flow between 2010 and 2014.

In end-of-life vehicles, this rate could vary between 1 and 2% for the same period.

In packaging, the potential for increasing the recycling rate may reach 2.6%, already in 2016.

The pioneering spirit and opportunity of this study has already been recognized internationally, with some European industrial associations adapting the content to their specific realities.