What are you looking for?
MIDWOR-LIFE
PROJECT OBJECTIVES
Città Studi (as co-ordinator of Pointex) is partner of the project MIDWOR-LIFE.
The main objective of the MIDWOR-LIFE is to mitigate the environmental, health and safety impacts of current Durable Water and Oil Repellents (DWOR) and their alternatives by analyzing their environmental impact and technical performance in order to assess manufacturers on the best available technologies to provide liquid repellency on textiles.
Policy recommendations were set (come gli altri progetti, verificare e aggiornare i tempi anche nella sezione italiana) in order to promote the widespread implementation of the less toxic and most effective DWOR alternatives to fulfill REACH Regulation.
- Evaluate the environmental impact of current DWORs and their available alternatives.
- Evaluate the risks posed by current DWORs and their alternatives for human and environmental health.
- Evaluate the technical performance of DWORs alternatives and compare them to current DWORs.
- Elaborate a road map and policy recommendations.
MIDWOR – LIFE is a project co-funded by the European Union, has a budget of about 1,000,000 euros and a duration of 36 months.
FIRST MIDWOR-LIFE WORKSHOP
The first workshop of the MIDWOR-LIFE project took place on 29 November 2016 in Città Studi, Biella. Entitled “Environmental sustainability of water-oil repellent treatments in finishing processes: the possible alternatives”, with the presence of Jordi Mota (LEITAT, Terrassa), introduced by Paola Fontana (POINTEX/Città Studi). With the presence of a large number of companies in the textile sector, regional and not.
Download presentation Paola_FONTANA
Download presentation Jordi_MOTA
PARTNERS
Three textile clusters, from Spain (AEI Tèxtils) Czech Republic (CLUTEX) and Italy (POINTEX), two technological centres (LEITAT, CETIM) and one research institute (IQACCSIC) participate in this LIFE Environment and Resource Efficiency project.
AEI Tèxtils (Agrupació d’Empreses Innovadores Tèxtils)
Agrupació d’Empreses Innovadores Tèxtils (AEI TÈXTILS) is a non-profit association, which has the aim to join all Catalan companies and organizations related directly or indirectly to the technical textiles sector and which form a specialized productive area with competitive advantages.
Role in MIDWOR-LIFE:
- Study for the selection of textiles, DWORs and alternatives
- Survey needs and requirements regarding the use of DWORs and alternatives in the Spanish textile industry
- Recruitment of companies for pilot demonstration and stakeholders for technical workshops
- Organization of technical workshops in Spain
Fundación CETIM
CETIM 10 is a private non-profit Technology Centre located in A Coruña, Spain, which has been created in 2011 from the collaboration between several industrial firms. CETIM is recognized by the Spanish Government as a Centre of Support for Technological Innovation, in addition to its acknowledgement as Foundation of Galician Interest for Regional Government.
Role in MIDWOR-LIFE:
- Pre-screening of the environmental impact of the different durable water and oil repellents selected for study
- Analysis of the best available technologies validated in the demonstration stage, using its experience in water treatment and Life Cycle Assessment.
- Support the organization of technical workshop
- Communication and Dissemination actions
- Networking with other projects
CLUTEX
Cluster CLUTEX associates the companies and institutions operating in technical textiles fields. Some of its members are focused on textile finishing. In this area lot of chemical substances is used, some of them could be danger for environment. Participation of this project and preparation of substitutions for danger substances could bring for some of our members new market opportunities and it could increase the competitiveness of European textile finishing companies.
Role in MIDWOR-LIFE:
- Survey needs and requirements regarding the use of DWORs and alternatives in the Czech textile industry
- Recruitment of companies for pilot demonstration and stakeholders for technical workshops
- Coordination of the technical workshops and organization of technical workshops in Czech
- Republic
- Monitoring the socio-economic impact of the project on local economy and population
- Communication and dissemination activities
- Networking with other projects
LEITAT Technological Center
LEITAT is a Technological Centre specialized in production technologies. LEITAT develops R& Dactivities in the areas of materials sciences, environment, surface treatments, biotechnologies and renewable energies with deep knowledge and experience in technological transfers to several industrial sectors.
Role in MIDWOR-LIFE:
- Selection of textiles, DWORs and alternatives
- Coordinate and develop the pre-screening of the environmental impact of the different durable
- water and oil repellents selected for study
- Coordinate and develop demonstration of DWORs and alternative material processing
- Support the organization of technical workshops
- Coordinate and develop policy recommendationSupport the development of the webtool
- Monitoring the project impacts on the environment and the cost-efficient replicability or transferability of the project
- Communication and Dissemination activities
- Networking with other projects
IQAC
The Institute of Advanced Chemistry of Catalonia (IQAC 12 ) was created in 2007 within the frame of the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), which is the largest public institution dedicated to research in Spain and the third largest in Europe. The IQAC belongs to the Chemical Science and Technology Area, and the main research lines of the Groups involved in the project concerns with textile fibres and fibrous materials, ecological alternatives for textile processing, active principle encapsulation and its application on textiles, and evaluation of its biofunctionality considering the preparation process and efficiency.
Role in MIDWOR-LIFE:
- Coordination and development of a Roadmap
- Development of a webtool
- Policy recommendations
- Communication and Dissemination activities
- Networking with other projects
POINTEX
PO.IN.TEX is the Innovation Textile Cluster in Piemonte (Italy). Po.in.tex is active since 2009, and has now 101 affiliates (mainly Industries, Research Organisations and Associations).(aggiornare anche nella sezione in italiano) The coordinator of Po.in.tex is Città Studi, a private company founded 25 years ago by the local industrial association in order to increase the scientific and technological development of the Biellese industry.
Role in MIDWOR-LIFE:
- Survey needs and requirements regarding the use of DWORs and alternatives in the Italian textile industry
- Recruitment of companies for pilot demonstration and stakeholders for technical workshops
- Organization of technical workshops in Italy
- Coordinate the monitoring the socio-economic impact of the project on local economy and population
- Communication and dissemination activities
- Networking with other projects
SECOND MIDWOR-LIFE WORKSHOP
The second workshop of the MIDWOR-LIFE project was held on May 9, 2018 in Città Studi, Biella, as part of the Textile Innovation Day, entitled “Facilitations 2018 – 2020 for Research and Industrial Innovation: news and previews”. Paola Fontana presented the “Success Stories: LIFE projects for Textiles (Midwor and Flarex)”.
MIDWOR-LIFE FINAL CONFERENCE
STAKEHOLDER WORKSHOP
“PROGRESS IN THE REPLACEMENT OF DURABLE WATER AND OIL REPELLENTS IN TEXTILE FINISHING”
Brussels, 5th June 2018
NH Carrefour de l’Europe, Rue Marche aux Herbes 110, Brussels
The aim of this event was to present the most important aspects and the results obtained and to open a debate on the introduction of policies to encourage the use of alternative chemicals in the textile industry, with particular attention to DWOR, durable oil and water repellents used in textile finishing processes.
The event was organized by the project team.
The objectives of the meeting were:
- Illustrate the results of the MIDWOR-LIFE project, which experimented with the use of alternative products to traditional hydro-repellent oils containing PFOS and PFOA.
- Discuss first results with international experts to increase stakeholder involvement.
- Informing the industrial world of the need to move towards the adoption of alternatives to DWOR and the characteristics of products already in use, both in terms of risk and technical performance.
- Collect opinions from the industrial world on this important issue and involve it in the testing of alternatives less harmful to health and the environment.
- Promoting networking between the different actors involved.
For more info visit the MIDWOR-LIFE project website
Download Layman’s report
Download the project fiche
