OPENBARE VLAAMSE AFVALSTOFFENMAATSCHAPPIJ

Their core work

OVAM is the Public Waste Agency of Flanders (Belgium), the regional government body responsible for waste management, soil remediation, and materials policy. In EU research projects, OVAM contributes policy expertise, regulatory knowledge, and real-world waste management data — serving as the bridge between circular economy research and actual implementation in Flemish environmental policy. Their involvement spans waste valorization, contaminated land management, construction and demolition waste, plastics recycling, and food waste reduction, always from the perspective of a regulator and policy implementer who must translate research outcomes into enforceable standards and guidelines.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

OVAM's early H2020 work (2015-2018) centered on broad environmental planning — soil management, land use policy, and the science-policy interface through projects like INSPIRATION and REPAiR. From 2019 onward, their focus shifted decisively toward applied circular economy technologies: removing hazardous substances from plastics (REMADYL), recovering materials from electronic and construction waste (CREAToR, ICEBERG), and most recently food system transformation (ZeroW). The trajectory shows a clear move from strategic environmental policy research toward hands-on involvement in industrial recycling technologies and digital tools for circular material flows.

OVAM is increasingly embedding itself in applied recycling and material recovery projects with strong digital components (BIM, data spaces, tracing systems), suggesting future collaborations should pitch technology-driven circular economy solutions.

How they like to work

OVAM operates exclusively as a participant or third party — they have never coordinated an H2020 project, which is consistent with their role as a public authority that contributes policy expertise rather than leading research. With 214 unique partners across 28 countries, they connect into very large consortia (averaging 24+ partners per project), making them a well-networked node in the European environmental research landscape. Their value to consortia lies in providing a real regulatory perspective and a pathway to policy uptake in Flanders, one of Europe's most advanced regions for waste management.

OVAM has collaborated with 214 distinct partners across 28 countries, giving them one of the broadest networks among Flemish public bodies in environmental research. Their connections span Western and Southern Europe heavily, reflecting the geographic spread of circular economy and environmental planning consortia.

What sets them apart

OVAM is not a research lab or a company — it is the actual government authority that sets waste and materials policy for 6.7 million people in Flanders. This makes them uniquely valuable in any consortium that needs to demonstrate real-world policy impact or regulatory uptake. Few partners can offer what OVAM brings: direct authority to implement project results into binding regional policy, plus decades of operational experience managing waste streams at scale.

Highlights from their portfolio

• URBANREC
  Largest single EC contribution to OVAM (EUR 587,750) for valorizing urban bulky waste into high-value recycled products — directly aligned with their core mandate.
• REMADYL
  Addresses the critical challenge of legacy hazardous substances in PVC recycling using continuous extrusion technologies — a regulatory priority for OVAM as plastics circularity accelerates.
• ICEBERG
  Introduces digital tools (BIM pre-demolition audits, RFID/QR tracing) to construction waste recovery, representing OVAM's move into digitalized circular economy approaches.