Fraunhofer Institute for Environmental, Safety and Energy Technology UMSICHT

New EU regulations, increasing demands for recyclability, and the call for circular products are putting pressure on companies to take action. But how can this transition actually be achieved? Sabrina Schreiner and Anna Krüger from the Research Department for Application and Demonstration at the Fraunhofer Cluster of Excellence Circular Plastics Economy CCPE explain why circular design is a key competitive factor and why monomaterials alone are not yet a solution.

In the international research and demonstration project Syschemiq, 21 consortium partners from five EU countries spent four years investigating how a cross-border plastic circular economy can be implemented and optimized. Whether it was sorting technology, recycling awareness or product design – the project aimed to overcome the most significant technical and non-technical barriers. Fraunhofer UMSICHT was particularly active in the areas of “Design for Recycling,” “Collection,” and the “City-Lab Program,” and, for example, conducted a study on consumer behavior. In the podcast, Dr. Anna Kerps discusses the project’s findings and challenges.

Lithium has become an indispensable part of our daily lives. At the same time, its extraction faces criticism because it harms the environment and local livelihoods. New technologies could bring about a decisive breakthrough. This is precisely where the German-Chilean research project “PaNaBat” comes in. PaNaBat aims to establish a long-term German–Chilean networking platform that promotes research collaboration, education, technology transfer and industrial cooperation.