On July 14, the webinar entitled "The recycling industry is committed to biotechnology to recover difficult-to-manage waste" was held with the support of ACLIMA, a cluster that represents the waste value chains of the Basque Country. Said webinar consisted of an initial presentation of the Otua Group, made by Jon Barrenetxea, manager of the INATEC Foundation, a research entity of the Otua Group. Subsequently, Olga Martin, general director of Aclima, presented the paper entitled "The importance of the Circular Economy in the recovery of waste", to give way to the presentation of the Life-BIOTAWEE Project.

Noelia Montes, representing REYDESA, presented the paper entitled "Waste that is difficult to manage within the recycling industry", showing the processing of waste that takes place in the REYDESA facilities, in particular, how the circuits have been mechanically treated printed within the BIOTAWEE project. Finally, Elena Dosal presented "The Life-BIOTAWEE Pilot as treatment of difficult-to-manage waste", where all the results obtained during the project were shown, and the potential replicability of said project to other difficult-to-manage waste within the recycling industry.

The video is accessible at the following link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lUtDRVIsTps

On February 11^th, 2022, the Group of Biomechanization and Biorecycling from the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU) visited REYDESA and INATEC facilities, within the scope of the BIOTAWEE project.

This group is dedicated to research into the development of sustainable bioprocesses that allow the improvement or replacement of traditional physical / chemical technologies currently used in many industrial production areas or in environmental pollution remediation processes. Specifically, the group has specialized in bioextraction or biosolubilization as an alternative to conventional processes of micro-machining and recovery of metals from waste from disused mobiles, mainly. This group has also developed another line of research on the application of biomechanization for the manufacture of microfluidic devices.

After the visit to REYDESA's industrial facilities, an explanatory visit was made to the BIOTAWEE pilot bioreactor, which was operating in one of the project's experiments, and the visit was used to hold a networking session, in which ties were strengthened to collaborate jointly in the application of bioleaching.

In 15th December 2021, the fourth monitoring visit of the LIFE BIOTAWEE project took place in a hybrid mode. As with the second and third monitoring visit, it was preferred to re-hold partially the meeting electronically for the safety of all attendees due to the current pandemic situation. This meeting was attended face-to-face at REYDESA facilities by the integrating partners of the consortium, REYDESA, and the expert monitor of the NEEMO team, the company that assists the European Commission in the monitoring of the LIFE + projects. And the partner BIOTATEC, as well as the expert from the European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency (CINEA) joined the meeting electronically.

The monitoring visit began with a general presentation of the current status of the project. Consecutively, each partner explained the actions executed, as well as the main results obtained to date on the open technical actions, B2 and B3. Once the technical part was finished, the revision of administrative and financial data of their organisations in relation to the project took place. And finally, the last part of the meeting consisted on a visit to REYDESA facilities, where the industrial process and the activities are carried out, including a visit to the 50L prototype and an in-situ explanation of the process.

On December 10, 2021, BiotaTec OÜ organized an online/ local seminar in Tartu on electronic waste management. Anne Menert, from BIOTATEC / University of Tartu presented the project activities performed by BIOTATEC, action A1 and B1, including an introduction of the project and the explanation of the main conclusions that were extracted from the work performed.

The seminar was opened by Sirli Sipp Kulli, Member of the Management Board of BiotaTec OÜ. This was followed by a presentation from Krista Kupits, a representative of the Estonian Ministry of the Environment, who introduced suitable European Union support programs and relevant legislation to promote e-waste management. Recognized waste management expert Peeter Eek gave an overview of the developments that have taken place during the past 20 years in the implementation of the European Union Waste Management Directive in Estonia. One of the speakers was Artur Sagarov, a graduate from Chalmers University of Technology, who has actively entered the start-up world of electronic waste companies. The last presentation was given by Hans Talgre, CEO of WeeRec OÜ, the largest electronic waste management company in Estonia, who pointed out the opportunities and shortcomings of bioleaching and gave a broad-based view of e-waste management in Estonia.

The recording of the seminar and the slides of the presentations can be found on the following linkhttp://biotatec.com/biotawee-en