#233 ECCA at JEC World 2026: Esthel Osso on Building a Circular Future for Composites
06.07.2026 10 min Staffel 5 Episode 191
Zusammenfassung & Show Notes
One of the privileges of what I do is having the opportunity to connect with people who are not only talking about the future of composites—but actively building it.
The latest edition of my Composites Lounge Newsletter features insights from Esthel Osso, Ex-Coordinator of the European Circular Composites Alliance (ECCA), recorded during JEC World 2026.
What makes this conversation particularly valuable is that it goes beyond technology and recycling processes and focuses on something many industries struggle with: collective action. ECCA has grown to more than 200 organizations across 27 countries and is now moving from strategy building to measurable industrial implementation.
For business leaders, engineers, innovation managers and sustainability professionals, the message is clear: circularity is no longer a future discussion. It is becoming a strategic competitiveness issue for the European composites sector. The ability to create viable value chains around repair, reuse, remanufacturing and recycling will increasingly determine who leads the next generation of industrial innovation.
I strongly encourage everyone active across the composites value chain to explore ECCA and consider joining the movement.
🔗 Join ECCA (free of charge):
https://eucia.eu/ecca/
🔗 ECCA 2nd General Assembly – Brussels, 3 December 2026:
https://lnkd.in/eMMWWxDH
Looking ahead, this week we will also shine a spotlight on EOLIAN project EU, an exciting Horizon Europe project (European Commission) developing smart, bio-based and recyclable wind turbine blades. Combining advanced vitrimer composites, structural health monitoring and circular design principles, EOLIAN demonstrates how innovation can support both sustainability and industrial competitiveness.
The LinkedIn Live sessions we organize together with industry partners have become a popular meeting point for the composites community, bringing together experts from research, engineering, manufacturing, policy and investment. If you have not joined one yet, this is a good opportunity to start.
A special thank you to Professor Roberto Frassine, RAPHAEL PLEYNET and the entire EuCIA team for their leadership and commitment to advancing composites circularity across Europe. Their work continues to bring together stakeholders who might otherwise remain disconnected, creating a stronger and more coordinated industry voice.
As a proud Media Sponsor with Composites Lounge of the ECCA General Assembly, I am already looking forward to meeting many of you again this winter in Brussels.
📩 If you would like to stay ahead of emerging trends, strategic initiatives and innovation stories across the composites industry, I invite you to subscribe to the Composites Lounge Newsletter.
The future belongs to those who engage early.
YouTube Episode: https://youtu.be/sa1yZSrcdwY
The latest edition of my Composites Lounge Newsletter features insights from Esthel Osso, Ex-Coordinator of the European Circular Composites Alliance (ECCA), recorded during JEC World 2026.
What makes this conversation particularly valuable is that it goes beyond technology and recycling processes and focuses on something many industries struggle with: collective action. ECCA has grown to more than 200 organizations across 27 countries and is now moving from strategy building to measurable industrial implementation.
For business leaders, engineers, innovation managers and sustainability professionals, the message is clear: circularity is no longer a future discussion. It is becoming a strategic competitiveness issue for the European composites sector. The ability to create viable value chains around repair, reuse, remanufacturing and recycling will increasingly determine who leads the next generation of industrial innovation.
I strongly encourage everyone active across the composites value chain to explore ECCA and consider joining the movement.
🔗 Join ECCA (free of charge):
https://eucia.eu/ecca/
🔗 ECCA 2nd General Assembly – Brussels, 3 December 2026:
https://lnkd.in/eMMWWxDH
Looking ahead, this week we will also shine a spotlight on EOLIAN project EU, an exciting Horizon Europe project (European Commission) developing smart, bio-based and recyclable wind turbine blades. Combining advanced vitrimer composites, structural health monitoring and circular design principles, EOLIAN demonstrates how innovation can support both sustainability and industrial competitiveness.
The LinkedIn Live sessions we organize together with industry partners have become a popular meeting point for the composites community, bringing together experts from research, engineering, manufacturing, policy and investment. If you have not joined one yet, this is a good opportunity to start.
A special thank you to Professor Roberto Frassine, RAPHAEL PLEYNET and the entire EuCIA team for their leadership and commitment to advancing composites circularity across Europe. Their work continues to bring together stakeholders who might otherwise remain disconnected, creating a stronger and more coordinated industry voice.
As a proud Media Sponsor with Composites Lounge of the ECCA General Assembly, I am already looking forward to meeting many of you again this winter in Brussels.
📩 If you would like to stay ahead of emerging trends, strategic initiatives and innovation stories across the composites industry, I invite you to subscribe to the Composites Lounge Newsletter.
The future belongs to those who engage early.
YouTube Episode: https://youtu.be/sa1yZSrcdwY
Transkript
So wonderful.
Good morning dear community.
This is JEC WORLD 2026
and the first stop, of course,
because my heart is
for sustainability
is the circularity
village here in Hall
five D 94 I think.
And I'm speaking right now
to Esthel Osso.
And she's from
the nice country of Andorra.
Thank you for being part of our show.
Thank you.
I'm here to gather
with Esthel to speak about,
of course, ECCA,
the European
Circular Composites Alliance,
as we did many, many times.
And before
we dive into this project,
into this self-organized
private initiative.
As Roberto would say,
I would like to know
more about Esthel and her function.
So I said,
what is your function at EuCiA
You are quite new member.
I met you the first time in December
on the fourth
at the General Assembly.
Absolutely, yes.
So I joined the ECCA
adventure for the General
Assembly in December 2025,
and I am the ECCA coordinator.
So, Esthel, one of your jobs
as a coordinator is
of course, the working groups.
So there are several working groups.
Maybe just remind us
which working groups they are
and what happens with the learnings
and the discussed results
of the working groups.
As you said, is organized in
five working groups.
We have
aerospace and defense, automotive,
industrial
and recreational construction,
and we have a fifth working group,
which is the Crossover working group.
And the goal of this working group
is to gather all the problems,
but also the solutions
that have been developed
in the different working groups.
And a final idea is to have
to bring all these
as an advocacy to go
through the European Commission
and speak to one voice
to the European Commission.
So my role
in ECCA as coordinator
is to supervise the work
that has been developed
in all the working groups,
gather them and having the work
not in parallel,
but gathering
all the developments
that are being
done in the working groups.
Yes.
Sounds really interesting.
Thank you so much.
And that we have
the support
of the European Commission for this
is a wonderful thing of course.
But then now let's go
from the bird perspective
down to the nitty gritty of project.
And one of the projects
that I will be highlighting
together with the EuCiA is REFRESH.
That will be soon.
Dear community,
we will be soon in live
with this project
with some of the members
also with you, of course.
Yeah.
Tell our community maybe
as an initial introduction,
what is REFRESH?
Why have you done on this
and why is it important?
How does it create
a story in composites.
The REFRESH project,
i believe
it will be a very nice case
study for the industry
and for the composite
recycling perspective.
It's a project that was supported
and founded
by the European Commission.
I was involved in the REFRESH project
with my previous company,
which was a recycling company,
that building machines to shred
and salt was the first contact
that I had with UCL,
Roberto and Rafael,
and it was a very nice project.
Well, it is a nice project
that is ongoing
and I think it's closing in 2026.
The goal of the project
is to build an entire value chain,
from the dismantling
of a wind blade into the recycling
of the different parts
that compose wind blades.
So in the wind blade,
you have 70% of the material,
which is composites, but
you also have some wood,
a little bit of metals,
and you have to sort out
all these materials
and you have to
valorize the composites.
And this is where I also met
Gjenkraft which is also present
in the circular village.
They have a very nice technology
of pyrolysis, but
electric pyrolysis
to separate
the matrix from the fillers.
So in this case the resin
from the glass fiber.
They are very doing a very nice job
and it is really an industrial case
scenario.
And the composite industry
they really need for now,
industrial case scenarios
to show
that the circularity is possible
and the recycling
technologies are developing,
and they should
bring solutions into the future.
Short break while
we are getting creative,
we have three full days
and within the three full days
we will have a lot of coffee.
And therefore I like it that we have
in the Circularity village,
this coffee machine.
So I still meanwhile
my coffee is freshly brewed.
Thank you so much that we have
in the circular village
a coffee machine.
Yes, coffee is essential these days.
Very nice.
Good place to be.
Yes.
We will come off pass by offer.
Let's go.
Now, back to the future of ECCA.
How do you see how this will develop?
Just right now
we have celebrated our first
anniversary of ECCA
was launched in the JEC
WORLD in 2025.
So here we are
back into the beginning.
JEC WORLD 2026
I think for the very near future.
The first thing is to
gather the people around,
which was a very successful start.
We have already two
more than 200 members,
which was a little bit unexpected,
but we're very happy about that.
So now we have to organize
of how to
manage 200 people
that are volunteering
and giving their own time
for this.
First thing is to align
with the objectives.
We all have different
visions of circularity,
and we have first to align
on where we want to go.
I think that in December
2026, in the second
General Assembly,
what would be nice is to show
what the different working
groups have achieved
in terms of objectives
and vision roadmap.
I think that is a very good
step to start,
and it's better to take your time
in having a good beginning
and then developing
and for the future.
The thing that was really said
in the working groups
is to develop business cases,
to show to the world
that things are possible.
Then we're working to prove
that in the coming years
it will be having from
theoretical studies
to in real life
propositions.
Everyone can still join, of course.
Who is relevant to this industry?
Always an interest.
Please community, make use of it.
Now it's over 200 members.
223.
223 as of today. So.
And there will be also a
new General Assembly
this year
on the 3rd
of December 2026,
where we will be welcoming you
all after you have signed
the ECCA membership.
Esthel,
thank you so much for the insights.