RegeNexus

The aim of RegeNexus project is to design an agile and interconnected digital ecosystem that supports the sustainability, sovereignty, and efficiency of recycling value chains.

The project is grounded in systems-of-systems engineering, modeling recycling value chains as multi-actor networks capable of cooperating despite divergent goals, constraints, and timeframes.

One of the project’s major scientific challenges lies in enabling multi-level decision-making: at the nano level, to characterize materials and guide their sorting and treatment; at the micro level, to support technical and economic decision-making for companies; and at the macro level, to manage the global value chain through strategic planning and coordination.

RegeNexus project will rely on advanced digital technologies—such as digital twins, multi-agent modeling, artificial intelligence, and the Internet of Things (IoT)—to improve material flow traceability, behavioral prediction, and the dynamic reconfiguration of value chains. Decisionmaking will rely on heterogeneous, uncertain, and sometimes incomplete data, sourced from sensors, field observations, expert knowledge, or simulations. This calls for the development of multi-criteria and multi-level decision support tools, capable of integrating both qualitative and quantitative indicators, while accounting for the delayed temporal nature of certain impacts (e.g., long-term environmental benefits of a regeneration strategy).

Specific issues such as the automated recognition of complex materials using hyperspectral imaging and AI, as well as the territorial modeling of waste flows and the interactions between public and private actors, will be studied. The proposed contributions will be validated through several realworld use cases, particularly in the fields of plastics, textiles, batteries, and household waste.

By mobilizing a multidisciplinary consortium and combining engineering, digital science, and industrial approaches, RegeNexus project aims to design and specify a robust methodological framework for a more connected, resilient, and truly sustainable recycling system.