· The event “From Coffee Waste to Agricultural Resource: The ECOFFEE Circular Model” will take place on 11 June 2026, from 14:30 to 16:00, in hybrid format from the European Committee of the Regions in Brussels
· The project will showcase replicable models to transform coffee waste into biocides and animal feed ingredients
· The session will focus on territorial cooperation, circular innovation and industrial scalability opportunities
Brussels, Wednesday 20 May 2026. The European project ECOFFEE will participate on 11 June, from 14:30 to 16:00, at the European Committee of the Regions in Brussels, with the hybrid event “From Coffee Waste to Agricultural Resource: The ECOFFEE Circular Model”, an official EU Green Week 2026 partner event bringing together institutional representatives, circular economy experts, HORECA stakeholders and European organisations to discuss replicable circular bioeconomy models for the primary sector. The session will demonstrate how coffee waste can be transformed into high value-added agricultural and industrial resources through innovative reverse logistics, digital traceability and valorisation solutions developed by the ECOFFEE consortium.
ECOFFEE within EU Green Week
EU Green Week is one of Europe’s key forums for dialogue on environment, sustainability and the green transition, bringing together institutions, regions, companies, researchers and civil society to address the main challenges of the European Green Deal. In this context, ECOFFEE’s participation strengthens the link between applied innovation, circular economy and European policy, presenting a model that starts from an everyday waste stream —spent coffee grounds— and turns it into new opportunities for the primary sector, bioeconomy and sustainable industry.
Circular economy, territory and policy recommendations
The event will open with institutional remarks focused on the role of regions and local authorities in the circular economy, followed by an intervention on European priorities in bioeconomy, industrial sustainability and the European Green Deal, with the expected participation of Diego Canga Fano, Principal Adviser at the European Commission.
Juan Manuel Revuelta, CEO of Finnova Foundation, will then present the relevance of territorial cooperation and policy recommendations for EU institutions derived from the ECOFFEE project results, connecting circular innovation, scalability and regional collaboration.
ECOFFEE: from coffee waste to agricultural resource
One of the central moments of the event will be the technical presentation of ECOFFEE, a pioneering European initiative aiming to transform spent coffee grounds from the HORECA and vending sectors into high value-added products, such as animal feed ingredients and natural biocides.
During the session, David San Martín, from AZTI Foundation, and Carlos Ramos, from FUMIHOGAR, will present the project’s circular approach, based on reverse logistics, digital traceability, animal feed applications and the development of biocidal products. This model replaces a wasteful linear chain with a circular system capable of recovering, classifying and reintroducing coffee by-products into new agricultural and industrial uses.
Replication, sustainability and synergies between Europe and Latin America
The roundtable “Replication, Sustainability and Synergies in Europe and LATAM” will address the replication potential of the ECOFFEE model in the primary sector, regulatory barriers, transatlantic cooperation and synergies with other European innovation projects.
Moderated by Finnova Foundation, the session will feature Juan Manuel Revuelta, representatives from ASAJA and the European Commission on EU-LATAM relations, Carlos Ramos, also linked to the LIFE NextFUMIGREEN project, and Paulina Menem, from the Sustainable Coffee / AL-INVEST Verde initiative. The event will also include a debate, Q&A and circular innovation dialogue with onsite and virtual participants to foster new collaborations around circular innovation.
The ECOFFEE project has a budget of €256,451.25 and is co-funded by the European Union through the Horizon Europe programme under the CIRCULOOS framework (Grant Agreement No. 101092295). The consortium is composed of AZTI, Euskovazza, FUMIHOGAR and Finnova Foundation, working together to develop innovative and replicable solutions for coffee waste valorisation through circular economy, bioeconomy and digital traceability models.
More information: https://ecoffeeproject.eu/
More information: Sobre EU GREEN WEEK