TUSTI

Their core work

TUSTI is a Dutch deep-tech SME that has developed and is commercializing a proprietary technology for recycling greasy mixed plastics — a waste stream that conventional recycling systems cannot handle. Their core innovation addresses one of the most persistent gaps in plastics circularity: contaminated, mixed-polymer plastic waste that typically ends up incinerated or landfilled. They progressed from a feasibility concept (2018) to a full-scale development and market entry project (2021–2024), suggesting their technology has moved from proof-of-concept toward commercial readiness. The company operates as an independent innovator, self-coordinating EU-funded development without relying on academic or industrial consortium partners.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

TUSTI's H2020 trajectory is a textbook SME Instrument progression: a 2018 feasibility study (Phase 1, €50K) to validate the concept, followed by a 2021–2024 full development project (Phase 2, €2.1M) to build and commercialize the technology. The absence of keywords in the early phase and their presence in the later phase reflects the maturation of the technology definition — what started as a broad eco-friendly recycling concept crystallized into a specific focus on plastic waste and plastics recycling. There is no pivot in direction; rather, the focus has deepened and sharpened around the same core problem.

TUSTI is on a commercialization trajectory — having completed a full SME Instrument Phase 2 cycle by 2024, their next logical step is market entry or scale-up financing, making them a candidate for partnerships with waste management operators, packaging companies, or circular economy investors.

How they like to work

TUSTI exclusively coordinates their own projects and has no recorded consortium partners across either of their H2020 participations — this is consistent with the SME Instrument model, which funds individual companies rather than research consortia. This means they are unlikely to appear as a partner in a multi-actor Horizon project, but could engage as an industrial end-user, technology provider, or SME participant in future calls. Working with them means engaging directly with the company, not through a research network.

TUSTI has no recorded consortium partners in their H2020 data, which reflects the solo-applicant nature of the SME Instrument rather than isolation. Their geographic footprint within EU-funded research is limited to the Netherlands.

What sets them apart

TUSTI occupies a very specific niche: recycling of greasy and mixed plastics, which is a known failure point for most municipal and industrial recycling systems and has limited commercial solutions. Unlike academic groups studying polymer chemistry or large industrial recyclers handling clean streams, TUSTI appears to be building a deployable technology specifically targeting this gap. Their full completion of the SME Instrument Phase 1 → Phase 2 pipeline indicates they have cleared EU-level technical and commercial due diligence.

Highlights from their portfolio

• EGREMPLARE
  The Phase 2 project (€2.1M, 2021–2024) is notable as the full-scale development of a technology for greasy mixed plastics recycling — a problem with no widely adopted solution and strong regulatory tailwinds from EU plastics and circular economy directives.
• EGREMPLARE
  The Phase 1 feasibility project (2018) is notable as the starting point that successfully passed EU evaluation to unlock Phase 2 funding, confirming independent expert validation of the technology concept.