Fiber-reinforced plastics (FRP) provide high strength combined with low weight and are highly resistant to chemicals and corrosion. They are already being applied in numerous mechanically stressed components, including the housings of drills and other power tools, or as the shells of wind-turbine rotor blades. Fiber-reinforced plastics also provide breaking resistance and durability in sports equipment such as surfboards or skis.
As a result of their outstanding material properties, fiber-reinforced plastics are also increasingly becoming a key technology for climate-friendly lightweight-construction solutions in vehicle production and the building industry.
In keeping with the EU funding-program objectives, the RECREATE project is helping to ensure that existing products made from fiber-reinforced plastics are transformed in a way that is suitable for recycling and that new applications are designed to be recyclable from the outset. The project results should furthermore help to ensure that the processes involved in the processing of fiber-reinforced plastics can be standardized throughout Europe. This includes, for example, recyclate and material definitions, analysis methods, testing of material quality and recyclability, and methods for traceability.
The project therefore also serves the overarching goals of the European Commission’s “Horizon Europe Strategic Plan (2021 - 2024)”:
- Promoting an open strategic autonomy by leading the development of key digital, enabling and emerging technologies, sectors and value chains
- Restoring Europe's ecosystems and biodiversity, and managing sustainably natural resources
- Making Europe the first digitally enabled circular, climate-neutral and sustainable economy
- Creating a more resilient, inclusive and democratic European society
Fraunhofer Institute for Wood Research 
