· The ECOFFEE project presents its institutional and technical results this Thursday 11 June at the European Committee of the Regions
· The hybrid meeting brings together the European Commission, international networks, research centres and leading companies to discuss the transformation of coffee grounds into strategic agricultural resources
BRUSSELS, 10 JUNE 2026. In the context of EU Green Week, the flagship green week of the European Union, the cross-border project ECOFFEE will hold its major official event this Thursday 11 June as a strategic partner: “From Coffee Waste to Agricultural Resource: The ECOFFEE Circular Model”. The event, which will take place from 14:30 to 16:00 CEST, will be held in a hybrid format combining in-person attendance at the headquarters of the European Committee of the Regions in Brussels with an official online broadcast worldwide.
The main objective of the technical meeting is to showcase how technological innovation, bioeconomy and international cooperation make it possible to transform a large-scale waste such as coffee grounds into sustainable high-value industrial and agricultural solutions. A circular model that directly responds to the priorities of the European Green Deal, aiming to curb rural depopulation and increase the competitiveness of the primary sector.
A high-level institutional and technical panel
The official opening of the programme will begin at 14:30 with Juan Manuel Revuelta, CEO of the Finnova Foundation, who will analyse the role of regions and local authorities as key drivers in the implementation of the circular economy. He will be followed by Luis Vivas-Alegre, Head of Sector for Research and Innovation Coordination at DG AGRI of the European Commission, who will present the EU’s future priorities and innovation opportunities in the field of agri-food sustainability.
The technical core of the event will be led by the ECOFFEE consortium partners themselves. Mónica Gutiérrez, researcher at the AZTI Foundation, Iker Beristain, CEO of Euskovazza, and Carlos Ramos, Operations Director at FUMIHOGAR, will detail the project’s milestones in disruptive areas such as reverse logistics, digital traceability, animal feed development, and the creation of eco-friendly biocides and insecticides derived from coffee waste.
International response and European funding lines
The event will also feature a transatlantic round table focused on sustainability, knowledge transfer and international synergies. The discussion will bring together prominent voices from governance, science and business, including Ernesto Ussher, technical project coordinator of the Ibero-American Network for Sustainable Coffee Agro-Innovation (Tecnicafé); Christophe Van Neste, biodiversity informatics expert and coffee specialist scientist at Plantentuin Meise; Mariamawit Solomon, project and operations manager at the Center for Circular Economy in Coffee (C4CEC); Ángela Ospina, CEO of Kafedata EU; and Paulina Menem, project manager at the Finnova Foundation and AL-INVEST Verde.
Before the Q&A session and closing remarks, a practical overview of upcoming European funding programmes (such as LIFE, Horizon Europe and Erasmus+) will be presented. These programmes are designed to support and promote new consortia and technological projects focused on bioeconomy and climate change mitigation.
About the ECOFFEE project
ECOFFEE is an industrial cooperation and innovation initiative co-funded by the European Union with a total budget of €1,481,420. The project is led by a strategic consortium of reference partners combining scientific research, market development and institutional management: the AZTI Foundation, the Finnova Foundation, Fumihogar and Euskovazza. Together, they work to demonstrate the economic and environmental viability of valorising coffee by-products, connecting urban and commercial waste management with the resilience of the global agri-food sector.