Fater S.p.A.

Their core work

Fater is an Italian consumer goods manufacturer based in Pescara, specialising in absorbent hygiene products (diapers, feminine care, incontinence products). In H2020 they brought an industrial-scale producer perspective to circular economy challenges, particularly the recycling of their own post-consumer waste streams. Their flagship contribution was coordinating a EUR 4.5M biorefinery project (EMBRACED) to recover value from used absorbent hygiene products — waste that traditionally ends up in landfill. They also contributed to bioplastic packaging redesign work through CIRC-PACK.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

Their early H2020 work (CIRC-PACK, starting 2017) positioned them inside a broader plastics packaging circularity consortium as one industrial voice among many. By the time they coordinated EMBRACED (also 2017, running to 2022), they had moved from contributor to consortium leader, with the focus narrowing specifically to the waste stream they know best — used absorbent hygiene products. The shift is from "generic packaging circularity" to "solving our own product's end-of-life problem at industrial scale".

They are moving toward owning the full circular loop of their own hygiene product waste, which makes them a natural partner for anyone working on AHP recycling, cellulose/SAP recovery, or extended producer responsibility schemes.

How they like to work

Fater plays two complementary roles: they join large packaging-sector consortia as an industrial adopter (CIRC-PACK), and they step up to coordinate when the topic touches their own waste stream (EMBRACED). Across just two projects they worked with 33 partners in 9 countries, suggesting they prefer large, ambitious Innovation Action consortia rather than tight bilateral R&D.

Connected to 33 distinct partners across 9 European countries through just two projects, indicating each consortium was broad and multi-actor. Centre of gravity is Italian industry but with strong pan-European reach through Innovation Actions.

What sets them apart

Fater is one of very few large hygiene-product manufacturers in Europe willing to both host and coordinate an EU Innovation Action on recycling their own waste. That combination — industrial scale, direct access to the waste stream, willingness to invest coordinator time — is hard to replicate. For anyone working on AHP recycling, cellulose recovery, or superabsorbent polymer reuse, they are close to a must-have consortium member.

Highlights from their portfolio

• EMBRACED
  Coordinated EUR 4.5M Innovation Action building the first multi-purpose biorefinery specifically for used absorbent hygiene products — an unusual and industrially meaningful topic.
• CIRC-PACK
  Gave Fater an entry point into the broader plastic packaging circularity community and connected them with the bioplastics and biodegradable materials ecosystem.